HENDRY FINDS MOTIVATION IN DUBLIN DEFEAT
AFTER arguably the best 45 minutes of Steve Clarke’s tenure as Scotland manager comes the chance to atone for undoubtedly the worst 90 minutes of his reign. Wednesday night’s thrilling 3-0 win over Ukraine, courtesy of a second-half goal from John McGinn and two late headers from Lyndon Dykes, placed Scotland proudly on the summit of Nations League Group B1. Tonight against Ireland, the Scots are hoping to take another giant step towards securing top spot and a guaranteed play-off for Euro 2024. For Jack Hendry, victory against the Irish would also atone for letting his nation down in a quite horrendous 3-0 Nations League loss in Dublin back in June, a week after being knocked out of the World Cup play-offs by Ukraine. ‘Everyone in our dressing room is motivated,’ said the Club Brugge defender, who is currently on loan at Italian side Cremonese. ‘I’m certainly motivated to go out and put in a performance against Ireland that makes the country proud. We let them down in Dublin and we don’t want to do that again. ‘It’s never nice to get beat. But I think the manner we lost that day wasn’t good. ‘The boys were desperate to bounce back from the results we had in the summer. ‘Thankfully, we got a positive result against Ukraine on Wednesday and we go into the game against Ireland with a lot of confidence. ‘We have managed to get to the top of the group and it’s in our hands to stay there.’ Hendry enjoyed playing alongside central defensive partner Scott McKenna in Clarke’s new-look 4-2-3-1 system. He rated the performance against Ukraine as up there with the finest nights the Scots national team have enjoyed under Clarke. ‘The manager wanted us to be that bit more aggressive and the change in formation certainly did that,’ added Hendry. ‘As a complete performance, with the amount of shots we got off and how much we locked in and prevented Ukraine getting chances, it’s definitely up there. ‘Ukraine are a top side with good forwards but they didn’t have a shot on target.’ A draw against Ireland and a point in the final match against Ukraine in neutral Poland on Tuesday would see the Scots top the group even if Ukraine beat Armenia this afternoon. But Hendry insists Clarke’s men will be going all-out for the three points. He said: ‘Obviously, it’s good to fall back on if something does go wrong but we’re looking to win both games. That’s for sure. ‘We will go into those matches with the mentality to win them. We’ve got that culture in the group to try and win every game we play in. ‘We’ve got really good players in our dressing room and a really good coaching staff. It’s just been about finding the key to get us to major tournaments like the World Cup. ‘But performances like the one against Ukraine the other night will definitely help us.’