The Courier & Advertiser (Perth and Perthshire Edition)
‘I should have sent the ball intorowz’
Armstrong concedes he chose the wrong option
Stuart Armstrong has admitted that he chose the wrong option in the build-up to the injury-time England goal that broke Scottish hearts at Hampden.
With home fans in ecstasy after Leigh Griffiths’ stunning three-minute free-kick double that had given Gordon Strachan’s men a 2-1 lead at the end of 90 minutes, the former Dundee United midfielder had a three on one counter-attack opening up in front of him.
Armstrong chose to play a pass right, which was intercepted, and the end result of the ball that came back into their box was Harry Kane’s 93rd minute leveller.
And he didn’t need to watch a re-run of the match to realise that something a bit more basic would have been a safer bet.
“Yeah, I know,” Armstrong said. “You make decisions in a game. It was really late on and, honestly, tiredness comes into play. I’ve seen Griff (Leigh Griffiths) make a run – and it was a poor pass.
“So, in hindsight, I should probably just have shelled it into row Z.
“A number of things have to happen for a goal – but I probably should have just cleared the ball. You can never tell what phase of play is going to lead to what. It’s just one of those things.
“When I saw the ball hit the net, my feelings were just total disappointment. We were so close to three points. To end up with one, you know, it’s just hard to take.
“The emotions of the game, being 1-0 down and Griff hitting two unbelievable goals to get us back in the lead with so little time remaining … it’s hard to know what to say. To concede is disappointing, to say the least.”
Whether or not the English players neglected to afford Griffiths the sort of respect they would one of the centreforwards they come up against in the Premier League, only they will know.
But one man who wasn’t surprised at the ex-Dundee star’s impact on the game was his Celtic team-mate.
“I think everyone in Scotland has seen his finishing ability and his skill with the dead ball, as well,” said Armstrong.
“I was stood right with him for the free-kicks, so I had the perfect view of both goals. They were two excellent finishes. More impressive is the fact that they came in a really high-pressure situation, in a really high-pressure game.
“For the second, I knew he was going to stick it to the other side of Joe Hart.
“I knew his confidence was going to be so high after the first one that I wasn’t even going to offer to take it! He stepped up brilliantly. To do it in a big game is amazing. To do it twice in such a pressurised situation is brilliant – he should have been very proud of himself.”
Armstrong now believes that Saturday evening can be the launchpad for Gr if fiths, who hadn’t scored for his country before then, in a Scotland shirt.
He said: “I think Leigh has proven himself at club level that he can score goals. There’s never been any doubt about that.
“It was always only a matter of time before he scored his first Scotland goals. Now that he has his first two, he’ll kick on.
“He did really well even apart from his goals. He provided a lot of help to the midfield, coming back and making interceptions, winning fouls and giving us a breather. His all-round play was terrific.”
Wins for second-place Group F rivals Slovakia and Slovenia haven’t helped Scotland’s cause but there is still a good chance that four wins from their last four matches will be enough to get into the play-offs.
“There is certainly a lotto build on and a lot of confidence to take into the next game. Can we win the next four? I don’ t see why not,” said Armstrong.
“We’ve hopefully given the fans that belief that we can do it.”