Goal hero Mcginn: I thought it was offside
Mcginn admitted he was disappointed Scotland didn’t manage to take all three points from their 2022 World Cup qualifying opener with Austria after Steve Clarke's side twice came from behind to earn a 2-2 draw.
Grant Hanley's 71st-minute header from Steven O'donnell's free kick cancelled out Sasa Kalajdzic's opener ten minutes into the second half, only for the Stuttgart striker to restore Austria's lead nine minutes later with a powerful header.
With five minutes of normal time remaining, Ryan Christie headed a partially-cleared set-piece back into the penalty area for Mcginn to beat Alexander Schlager with an overhead kick to earn a point.
Speaking after the game the Aston Villa midfielder suggested playing with VAR in the English Premier League had played a part in his strike.
Mcginn told Sky Sports: "I actually thought I was offside. I think one positive from having VAR down the road is that you play until the ball is in the back of the net and that was going through my head. Before, I might have just stopped if I thought I was offside. I didn't know I was as flexible as that and thankfully it got us a point in the end."
Mcginn started in a deeper midfield role as Clarke opted for a 3-4-3 set-up with Stuart Armstrong and Ryan Christie supporting Lyndon Dykes in attack, but when Callum Mcgregor replaced the Queen's Park Rangers striker with a little over ten minutes remaining, the former Hibs talisman was pushed further up the park and reaped the rewards. Mcginn added: "I've never scored a goal like that before. I'm never normally that far forward but the gaffer made a couple of changes, the set-piece came back in, it was a good header, and I'm delighted to be back scoring again.
"I enjoy playing further forward, although I've been playing a bit deeper for Aston Villa but tonight the manager went with something different and I'm just happy to play wherever he wants me to play."
Despite his delight at earning the Scots a point, Mcginn insisted three points wasn't an unrealistic aim. He added: "I don't think we were as good as we can be tonight but I think it shows how far we've come that Austria were blowing out their backside at the end. We flung everything at them, and it maybe took us a wee bit too long to suss them out in the first half but we've got quality players and now moving forward it's just about belief."
Scotland now travel to Israel and will be aiming to go one better by picking up three points in Tel Aviv on Sunday. Mcginn added: "It's not the worst result. Three points would have been good, but it's not a disaster.”
In the other Group F games last night, Denmark won 2-0 in Israel with goals from Martin Braithwaite and Jonas Wind, while the Faroe Islands secured a 1-1 draw in Moldova.
If Che Adams does prove to be the man who can end Scotland’s long search for a regular and reliable goalscorer, his arrival on the scene may already be too late to inspire qualification for the 2022 World Cup.
Adams will require more than the promising half-hour cameo he provided a th amp den last night to establish himself as steve Clarke’ s number one striker.
Regardless of how much game time adams is given as the remainder of Group F unfolds, however, history suggests scotland are already playing a game of catch-up beyond their capabilities.
The 2-2 draw with austria was a decent result in the circumstances, given Steve Clarke’s side trailed twice. But it is the sixth consecutive World Cup qualifying campaign in which Scotland have failed to win their opening home fixture - a setback from which they were unable to recover every time.
Having seen his team draw a blank in three of their previous six matches, Clarke could take some comfort from the goals delivered on by defender Grant Hanley and midfielder John Mcginn.
But how Scotland could do with a striker like Sasa Kalajdzic, top scorer in the German Bundesliga with VFB Stuttgart this season, who grabbed a double for Austria.
Adams did enough to suggest he merits a starting place for Sunday’s assignment against Israeli n Tel Aviv. The impressed with his movement and link-up play and hinted at much more to come.
His previous experience of international football was back in September 2015 when he played in a 1-0 defeat for England’s under-20 side against Czech Republic at Shrewsbury. after all the hype aroundhiscall-up,itwassomethingofasurprisehestartedthe night on the bench a th amp den as Lyndon Dykes was chosen to lead the line on his own.
Clarke’ s show of faith in dykes was certainly driven by the former Livingston man’s previous contributions since his introduction to the Scotland set-up, rather than on his club form.
The 25-year-old has hardly been prolific since his £2 million move to QPR last August land his goal in their 1-1 draw at reading last Saturday was his first in 22 appearances.
With Adams having scored in each of his last three outings for Southampton in the Premier League, it must have been tempting for Clarke to throw him straight into his starting line-up. Instead, he opted for Dykes as the spearhead of a formation which looked to provide the big striker with support from midfield in the shape of Ryan Christie, Mcginn and Stuart Armstrong.
But Dykes was left isolated for lengthy spells and rarely given the opportunity to unsettle the Austrian defence with his physicality.
He did seize upon a terrible error by goalkeeper Alexander Sch lag er which presented scotwith their most threatening moment of a stale first half. Dykes was slightly unfortunate not to be able to work a shooting position for himself but showed good presence of mind to set it up for christie whose effort was saved.
A goal also eluded Adams after his 66th minute entry to the fray, as did that elusive initial home win for Scotland.