Eck thrilled by positive performance
Phillips goal hands Eck a vital first win to lift Scots
handled them well. I was very pleased with the continuation of the second half on Friday. The tempo was high, the intensity and concentration was good. All round it was a very pleasing night.’ McLeish took huge personal satisfaction from this first victory of his second spell as national boss and is desperate to foster a winning mentality after the loss to World Cup qualifiers Costa Rica increased levels of negativity. ‘It is a big night for me,’ he admitted. ‘I was asked earlier if the criticism was over the top. ‘I must admit I didn’t see too much criticism in the press. If I felt it was out of order I would say that. ‘But we didn’t get our rhythm in the first half on Friday because so many players hadn’t played together before. Tonight there was more familiarity between players who have a big future.’ McLeish would have been disappointed to see Mulgrew’s 39th-minute spot-kick saved by Hungary keeper Peter Gulacsi after Bournemouth winger Ryan Fraser was felled on the edge of the box. But he was pleased to see the gamble on Phillips pay off and was equally boosted by the way his players coped with a number of cynical challenges from the home side. ‘You have to control your emotions and the players did that,’ said McLeish. ‘We missed a penalty and you wonder how they are going to react. Are the heads going to go down? They didn’t. ‘When you get the goal are they going to switch off? They didn’t. I have to be complimentary in the way they managed the game. ‘It was great to see us finally putting the ball in the back of the net. ‘I thought we controlled the game by and large and played to a decent level. ‘It was good to introduce new caps. I thought our two young central defenders were really good tonight. ‘They played to a good level. Jack (Hendry) was coming in for his first game and concentrated the whole game. He is super confident. ‘Charlie Mulgrew marshalled the two younger guys and Scott McKenna probably had an even better game tonight than he did on Friday.’ Admitting he felt the onus to take the squandered penalty as team captain, Blackburn defender Mulgrew said: ‘I took responsibility as captain at the penalty and unfortunately didn’t put it away, so it was good that we got there in the end. ‘It was important after missing the penalty that we responded well and kept going at them. ‘To be honest, I thought Callum McGregor was going to take it. I’d just gone up to talk to the boys about a couple of things and was offered the ball, so like I say as captain it felt like I should step up.’ Mulgrew now faces a mad dash back to Blackburn in time for tomorrow night’s League One game against Bradford.
ALEX McLeish believes the first win of his new scotland era will give the national team more power and belief.
A first international goal for Matt Phillips earned a morale-boosting 1-0 victory over a physical hungary side after Charlie Mulgrew had earlier missed a first-half penalty. Tasked with leading the line, the West Brom winger’s 48th-minute strike was the highlight of a night when McLeish took heart from fine performances from debutant Jack hendry, Aberdeen’s scott McKenna and Celtic midfielders Callum McGregor and stuart Armstrong. After the disappointment of Friday night’s defeat to Costa Rica, McLeish was delighted by aspects of scotland’s win last night. ‘The evidence is there for them now. We can work on that,’ he said. ‘They have won a game and we can use that to empower them, the confidence they can take from that. ‘hungary have some good players, dangerous players, but our players