Armstrong confident of quick rebound

STUART ARMSTRONG says that the togetherness Steve Clarke has forged in his Scotland squad can help them to bounce back from their World Cup disappointment, insisting they have the mentality needed to quickly return to winning ways.

The Southampton midfielder acknowledged that the players were crestfallen to have failed in their quest to reach a second consecutive major tournament, but that the hectic June schedule can help them to refocus and get themselves back on track – starting on Wednesday against Armenia.

“It’s football and we’re used to having a lot of fixtures and sometimes they don’t go the way you wanted them to,” Armstrong said.

“On the pitch it’s about mentality and it’s a strong group with strong characters. There’s a lot of togetherness in that dressing room. We’ll learn from this and move forward.

“We had one objective to win [against Ukraine] and we didn’t so it’s a feeling of huge disappointment not to make it to the World Cup. There’s no hiding the fact that we wanted to go to a World Cup and now we’re not.

“Times have been good recently. A lot of big wins, going to the Euros. We’ve shown we can be a very good team and I’m sure we can show that again in the very near future.

“These games are big pressure. There was a place at the World Cup at stake and everyone feels that.

“But again, we’re football players and we’ve got guys who are used to playing big occasions, cup finals and used to playing under a lot of pressure.

“So as much as the occasion was big, I think when you’re on the pitch you forget that and do your job.

“There’s not much else to say apart from that we’re disappointed that we didn’t make it.”

While the Nations League encounters will be something of a comedown for supporters after the hype surrounding the World Cup play-offs, the value of the opportunity they present is far from lost on Armstrong and his team-mates.

“I think we know the importance of those games,” he said. “Wednesday night was a big disappointment. We’ve been thinking about the game, trying to get it out of our minds and learn from it. Tomorrow is a new day and we’ll look forward to the games coming up because we do know they are very important.”