Steve Clarke felt his Scotland side had ended their long wait for a win with perhaps their weakest performance in UEFA Nations League competition, but a reprieve from Croatia’s controversial red card.
Croatia looked the more dangerous until Petar Suchic received a second yellow card in the 44th minute for an unchallenged tackle on John Souttar, who had earlier been booked for an innocent foul on Billy Gilmour.
Scotland’s last possession denied them as they tried to take a numerical advantage and Croatia even had the best chance of the second half before substitute John McGinn scored the only goal in the 86th minute.
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Sky Sports News journalist Gordon Duncan reflected on Scotland’s 1:0 win over Croatia in the UEFA Nations League.
Scotland remain bottom of Group A1 but will avoid automatic relegation if they win against the Polish side in Warsaw on Monday following their 5-1 defeat by group winners Portugal.
Clarke, whose team went 10 matches without a win, said: “It’s nice to win a competitive game on the board.
“Really happy with the players, the effort they’ve put in so far. They deserve more points and it’s nice to get that win.
“I think we can be better with the ball, I think we can be better when we get to the final third. Obviously, the layoff changes the direction of the game. But we were in for a little break.
“We were building performances. To be honest, I think tonight was probably one of our worst performances out of the five games we’ve played so far. But we got the little breaks that went in our favor and we were able to turn it into a win.”
John McGinn scored the only goal of the game
Clarke’s side have even been given an outside chance of finishing second, which would send them into the quarter-finals and the start of next month’s World Cup qualifying draw, as well as ensuring they remain in the elite level of the Nations League.
In addition to beating Poland, Scotland need Portugal to beat Croatia with at least one of the wins by two or more goals.
Clarke does not care about the goal difference.
“We have to win,” he said. “The first thing is to go there and win. If we do that, we’ll count the goals and whatever happens after that.
“But let’s take it one step at a time. It’s been a long time since we won. Now we have to get another one on Monday night.”
Ben Doak impressed for Scotland against Croatia
Clarke revealed that McGeeney started on the bench because of the way Ben Doak and Ryan Christie played last month when the Aston Villa midfielder was injured.
“But I also knew I was strengthening the bench a little bit,” he added. “You have to have Johnny come in and he does what he does. He comes off the bench and scores the winning goal.”
McGinn’s chance came from a blocked shot by Doak, whose direct run was Scotland’s most potent threat.
“He was good, but I thought he might be,” Clark said. “He came to the team, showed a really positive attitude.
“He brings us something a little different than what we’ve had before. So really happy with Ben. He assists, could have had a few more, maybe scored one himself.
“It’s an investment of a young player that we have to protect and take care of. We recognize that he is good now and hopefully for a long time to come.”
