Scotland can take confidence from Wembley defeat: Fletcher

Darren Fletcher insists Scotland will draw inspiration from their heavy defeat at Wembley when they take on England in Saturday’s crucial World Cup qualifier.

The new Stoke City midfielder captained his country in last November’s 3-0 defeat but is adamant the scoreline was not a true reflection of the game.

Scotland played well in spells in London but failed to take their chances, leaving Daniel Sturridge, Adam Lallana and Gary Cahill to wrap up a comfortable win for the hosts.

Gordon Strachan’s side reignited their Group F qualifying hopes with March’s crucial victory over Slovenia and Fletcher insists they will go into next weekend’s clash on a high.

He said: “Take the score away, although I know the score is the most important thing, and England won 3-0, and it’s not a 3-0 game.

“England punished us, scored basically with the first two chances they had and, in the end, it’s 3-0 and we’re trying to keep the score down, we don’t want an embarrassment.

“But we’ll take confidence from the game, looking back at it.

“In front of our own fans at Hampden we’ll believe in ourselves, we need to get a result and we’ll take confidence from the game even though we did lose it.”

With Scotland two points adrift of second-place Slovakia in the qualifying table, Strachan has labelled the England clash as a ‘must not lose’.

And Fletcher, who moved to Stoke on a two-year deal from West Brom on Thursday, admits the country’s hopes of reaching Russia 2018 would be all but over if they came away from the match with nothing to show for their efforts.

He said: “It’s massive for Scotland. We need a result, there is no hiding behind that, but we know we’re capable of it and the game at Wembley proved that.”

In front of our own fans at Hampden we’ll believe in ourselves