Robertson dismisses doubters and says win was key to start building momentum
Captain Andy Robertson hopes Scotland’s comfortable 6-0 victory over minnows San Marino can be a springboard as they look to build momentum ahead of the Nations League play-offs.
A first-half John Mcginn hat-trick and goals from Lawrenceshank land, stuart find lay and Stuart Armstrong saw Scotland return to winning ways in style following a run of four straight losses in European Championship qualifying Group I.
Liverpool defender Robertson was delighted with Scotland’s performance, regardless of their opponents’ lowly status in world football.
And he hopes the display can push them on as Scotland prepare for March’s Nations League play-offs, which provide a route to Euro 2020.
Robertson said: “Only time will tell but I really hope that now we can kick on from this performance.
“I know it’s only against San Marino and I’m sure a lot of people – the negative people – will say that, but it wasn’t about our opponents, it was about how we went about our business and I thought we did it brilliantly. When you have a fragile squad and a squad that’s low on confidence then it’s always tough. Hopefully this result will kick all of us on. It’s not been easy but we knew we had a chance to put 100 per cent in and put a performance in. It didn’t matter if it was 1-0 or 6-0. For us it was about the performance.”
Robertson admitted things have been difficult for Scotland following defeats in the double-headers against Russia and Belgium but insists the players knew how to cope.
He added: “I don’t like losing – I think it’s the same for all the boys – none of us like losing. But maybe as captain it maybe falls on me a bit more and that’s fine. It has been tough, don’t get me wrong, but all footballers are made in a different way to the normal person – we know how to deal with this. I’m no different to that. I play at a top club where, if you put in a bad performance, you get criticised and it’s no different here. It has been tough but, luckily, we got the result that hopefully can really kick us on now.”