The Courier & Advertiser (Fife Edition)
Hendry is straining at the leash to make amends for worlds end
Former Dundee defender says Scots can find Nations League redemption
Scotland defender Jack Hendry says the start of their Nations League campaign cannot come quickly enough.
The Scots face Armenia at Hampden on Wednesday in the first of three fixtures in six days. Scotland will then face the Republic of Ireland in Dublin on Saturday before making the trip to Armenia next Tuesday.
It marks a quick return to action for Steve Clarke’s men following their World Cup play-off defeat by Ukraine in midweek.
Although the mood was low in the aftermath of Wednesday’s loss, Brugge defender Hendry is keen to look ahead in Scotland’s aim to reach Euro 2024.
The former Dundee player said: “As a player you just want the next game to come around as soon as possible to get over the other night.
“You have extremely low moments but you can’t allow yourself to get too low. We need to look forward to the next one and rectify it with a good performance and result.
“That’s our main focus now.
“We know how important the Nations League can be. I’m sure it will be mentioned in the next few days that this was what got us to the Euros the last time.
“It’s extremely important to us. We want to finish top of the group and push to qualify for another tournament and get into Pot A.
“That’s an ambition for the boys as well, so there is a lot at stake.”
Despite Scotland falling short against Ukraine, Hendry maintains the belief the Scots have the credentials to reach major finals.
He added: “I am confident this group can reach major tournaments. We showed it by getting to the Euros.
“The other night was a one-off game and we came off second best – we need to make sure it doesn’t happen again.
“I think we did extremely well to get out of the group and get to that stage. Now we have to make sure if we get to this point again we win it. This is a talented group and I understand the country is feeling extremely disappointed.
“But everyone – not just the team – will need to get around us and get us back up and on to the next qualification challenge.”
Hendry has been given an extra impetus to succeed at national level by a remarkable season with Club Brugge in Belgium.
The former Celtic defender made the switch from KV Oostende last summer, with his first goal for the club sealing the Jupiler Pro League title against Royal Antwerp last month.
Earlier in the campaign, Hendry was part of a side which held PSG to a 1-1 draw in a Champions League group stage match in Brugge.
Hendry says success with the national team is a key focus.
He added: “I went through a difficult stage there for a month or so, not playing at Brugge. I’ve played 45 games this season, so it’s probably the most I’ve played in a campaign.
“From not playing for a wee bit to getting back into the team and scoring the goal to win the league was amazing.
“It was a shame I couldn’t have added to that the other night as my main goal was to help take Scotland to a World Cup.
“I can still achieve that – this group can still achieve it.
“It’s like club football. You can’t get too low and you have to wait for the opportunity to come around and then take it. “I was proud of achieving
winner’s medal as a
Scottish lad over there. It just makes you hungry to achieve more.
“That’s why the other night was so disappointing.”
Veteran keeper Craig Gordon echoed Hendry’s Nations League call and rallied the team to focus on a good start to their Nations League campaign.
The 39-year-old, who had a terrific game against Ukraine, sidestepped a question about his own international future and ambitions – “You need to ask the manager, he is the one who picks the team” – to instead focus on the visit of the Armenians.
“Just concentrate on the next game,” he said. “That’s how we have done it so far to get to this point and we need to go back to that. We need to try to get a good start in the Nations League.
“It hurts for everyone, regardless of age. We all wanted to be there. We came up short.
“We gave it a good go in the group to get to the play-off stage and it just feels that little bit more disappointing because we didn’t give our best performance.
“It was disappointing for it to end that way. It wasn’t our best performance when we really needed it. We have no excuses, we were beaten by the better team.”
The former Celtic and Sunderland keeper could not put his finger on why Scotland took until the second half to get going.
He said: “You probably have to put that down to the quality of the Ukraine performance.
“They were very good, controlled the ball well and then later on, when they were trying to protect their lead, that is when we came into it more.
“We just have to give credit to our opponents.”
However, Gordon was not surprised at how sharp the visitors were given that six of their starters had not played a competitive game this year after Ukraine’s domestic football was stopped following the invasion by neighbours Russia.
He said: “They had been in a training camp for weeks and playing friendlies. I knew they would come here sharp and ready to play.
“If anything, it was something we had to overcome. We knew they would be very ready for the game, physically having planned for so long for one game. It was up to us to counteract that and we weren’t able to do it.”
Moreover, Gordon does not think the defeat had anything to do with the emotion that swirled around the occasion.
He said: “No, I don’t. If anything it is the amount of games everyone has been playing.
“It is at the end of a very long, hard season and we didn’t manage to cope with that and they did.”