WE NEED TO GIVE BILLY A BIG HAND
Army a first chance to see him in action at Hampden, Clarke replied: “Have you picked my team?
“If Billy plays he has a great chance to show the Tartan Army what he is all about.
“But I think they already know that. Most of them will have watched the game against England at Wembley in the summer and, again the other night in Denmark, once we found our level he got on the ball and did really well.
“Listen we keep talking about him and he is a big prospect but let’s not put too much pressure on young shoulders.
“Let’s look for some of the senior boys to turn up as well and make sure that the performance is good.”
Clarke accepts that a poor run of recent results – Scotland have only beaten the Faroe Islands in their last nine competitive matches – has dampened the enthusiasm which erupted after qualification for a first major finals in 23 years.
But he believes that a convincing performance and result tonight can help win back hearts and minds.
He continued: “It is important to win games. If you win games the feel-good factor is always there.
“We understand our job. We are all professionals. We have been in the game a long time. Some longer than others – for example, I am longer than Billy Gilmour.
“We understand only good performances and victories make people happy and that’s what we will be trying to do at the weekend.
“The morale is good. The players know it was a tough night for them the other night and they know it was not the result that we wanted.
“But they also know what we wanted to achieve from this week is all in front of them.
“The next game is important to get that win on the board and then worry about Austria after that. All thoughts are on Moldova.”
Clarke will have a full squad from which to pick after right-backs Nathan Patterson and Stephen O’Donnell joined up with the squad along with talisman John McGinn and Hibs striker Kevin Nisbet after they all missed the trip to Denmark.