STRACHAN IS THE MAN WITH THE PLAN, INSISTS WHITTAKER:

Whittaker insists Strachan strategy has stirred Scots

WHATEVER words could justifiably be used to describe Scotland’s win over the Republic of Ireland at Parkhead on Friday, surprising was certainly not one of them.

Anyone who had witnessed Gordon Strachan’s Celtic teams overcome numerous European behemoths during his tenure at the venue will be familiar with his happy knack of finding a way to win.

Try to play through us? We’ll crowd the middle ground and take our chances when they come.

Sit in deep? We’ll move it around you to the point of exhaustion, then pick the lock.

Go back to front and try to bully us? We’ll stand up tall in the unwavering belief superior technique will eventually win the day.

Simple solutions to complicated problems. A shrewd strategist as much as a football manager.

The very essence of a man who has kept a distressed vessel afloat, turned it around and pointed it in the direction of France.

If their narrow defeat in Germany highlighted Scotland’s capability of playing counter- attacking football, then the win over Georgia underscored the team’s ability to break down dogged, deep defending.

If the draw in Poland showcased our penchant f or expansive, dynamic football, Friday’s slender victory was a triumph for keeping your nerve in the midst of an aerial bombardment and intense physical intimidation.

Different matches, different problems, different solutions. So much for o ne - di mensional Scotland.

‘The manager said after the game he was pleased for a lot of different factors,’ said defender Steven Whittaker.

‘The pretty football wasn’t there as much, although we did have moments in the game when we played well. But we dug in as a group because we were determined not to get beaten and we won the match.

‘I enjoyed the physical aspect. I got a sore one (after a foul by Ireland’s Jeff Hendrick) but it was fine. Both teams showed fight to win the match and that’s what you would expect. There were a few hard tackles here and there but it was all well and good.

‘It felt along the lines of an Old Firm game. It certainly had a very British feel to it.

‘ You expect that, I suppose, especially late on when we were one goal in the lead and they were trying to put the ball into our box and everyone was fighting for it. We were heading and kicking it away from our goal but we got there.’

Friday’s match was the 16th of Strachan’s tenure and the 10th competitive affair.

Yet, for all victories over Croatia and Macedonia at the fag end of a doomed World Cup campaign had been welcome, there was a sense that the manager’s reign only truly started in Dortmund in September.

In the lead-up to the Republic of Ireland game, the party line from the Scotland camp was that it was not a must-win affair. Few were buying it.

Had the Irish added a point or three to the one they snatched in Germany and the three they claimed in Georgia, the play- offs would have looked Scotland’s best-case scenario of reaching the Euro 2016 finals.

So much of the sterling work done under Strachan so far would have quickly faded from memory.

Yet, even if the feeling that we missed a trick in the opening game in Germany hasn’t left us — maybe more so since Poland and Ireland’s joy against the world champions — four points from a trip to Warsaw and Friday night’s blood-and-thunder encounter have greatly eased the anxiety.

With a game against Gibraltar to come in March before Dublin in June, Scotland are now eyeing Group D with more than just cautious optimism.

‘It’s changed the complexion of the group,’ Whittaker agreed. ‘We knew the three points were massive. The game here and in Ireland could be the two deciding factors. There is a lot of football to be played yet and we’ll need to focus on our next game.

‘The clean sheet is also pleasing. As a group, we defend from the front but, as a defensive unit, we’ve not lost a goal, which is great.’

The true worth of Shaun Maloney’s sublime strike will be known only in the fullness of time but it had all the hallmarks of a decisive, pivotal moment in this most engaging of qualification chases.

In the short-term, it ensures tomorrow’s friendly with England at Celtic Park cannot come soon enough. For so long obscured by the importance of the Ireland fixture, the rematch with Roy Hodgson’s side is now another welcome test of the versatility of the Scots.

‘I would imagine England will try to play a bit more,’ Whittaker added, with a nod to Ireland’s back-to-front game-plan.

‘Now we can focus on that after a great result against Ireland. The hype before the game was all about the Ireland match. This was the three points we really wanted — we got that and now we are focused on England.’

Last August’s 3- 2 defeat at Wembley came with the consolation prize of a performance that, while by no means perfect, was another staging post on Strachan’s road to recovery.

In the intervening 15 months, the gradient of the Scotland chart has continued to move in an upward direction.

A friendly or not, Strachan’s side have now moved beyond the point where pats on the back are enough.

Asked if there now was more belief about the squad than prior to Wembley, Whittaker replied: ‘ Maybe a little bit. Since the manager has taken over and we’ve gone on this run, it’s certainly given us the belief and confidence.

‘It’s all there because everything is going well. It’s all positive at the minute.

‘The aim and the plan is to get another win to keep the morale high and things moving along.

‘The personnel is much the same as played at Wembley — the squad hasn’t changed too much since then.

‘I thoroughly enjoyed that game. We gave a good account of ourselves down there and were bitterly disappointed not to take something from the match.

‘For the boys based in England, it was hard going back to our clubs after losing to them.

‘There were a lot of people saying: “You did well” but, at the end of the day, we were beaten 3-2. The performance was t here but obviously we want a result to match it now.

‘England are right up there but we have competed well against Germany and drew with Poland, so we’ll go into the game with a positive mentality that we can compete against good sides.

‘You’d need to ask England if it’s as important to them as it is to us. They are big occasions, games that players want to play in and we’re looking forward to it.’

None more so than the wee man with the plan.