Strachan will be just wild about Harry & Co if England can do us a huge favour

Win over Slovaks for Southgate’s men would give Scots a real chance of play-off position

GORDON STRACHAN couldn’t quite bring himself to utter the phrase ‘come on England’ — but we can rest assured the Scotland boss will be rooting for Gareth Southgate’s team tomorrow night. If our prospects of qualifying for next year’s World Cup finals became a little less distant through the 3-0 thumping of Lithuania in Vilnius on Friday night, Slovakia’s late winner against Slovenia ensured the main barrier to a play-off spot remained in place.

Jan Kozak’s side visit Wembley tomorrow night and — provided Scotland take care of Malta at Hampden at the same time — an England win would leave Strachan’s men just a point adrift of second place in Group F.

With Slovakia due in Glasgow for the penultimate fixture next month, the complexion of the section has changed.

Strachan’s squad went through a light training session at their Renfrewshire base yesterday as the preparations for tomorrow night’s game kicked in but, beforehand, the coach paused to reflect on the state of play.

Harry Kane may have broken the coach’s heart with his stoppage-time equaliser at Hampden in June but the England striker now becomes the unlikeliest of allies as the qualifying campaign reaches its defining stage.

Asked if he would be siding with England tomorrow night, Strachan offered a shrug: ‘Aye, but I can’t do anything about it. England need to do themselves a favour because if they don’t do well and lose, Slovakia go top.

‘When you’re England, you have no option but to win games. It’s like being Manchester United or Chelsea or Juventus. You’ve got to win games.

‘Slovakia have been fantastic and have some good players. We hope that we’ll be in a position that our good players will be all right against theirs when we get together again.’

Scotland may have breathed fresh life into this campaign but Strachan refuses to celebrate.

The road to Russia remains precarious and, in all likelihood, it will take maximum points from the three remaining fixtures to clinch second place and a crack at a play-off against a higher-ranked nation.

Victory over bottom-of-the-group Malta should come easily enough. However, beating the Slovaks at Hampden next time out will require a cup final of a performance.

And, finally, the team must travel to Ljubljana to take on Slovenia, who were only vanquished courtesy of a late Chris Martin strike at Hampden in March.

Martin’s goal may yet prove to be a huge turning point for Scotland but Strachan hasn’t forgotten the dismal results last autumn when the Lithuanians garnered a point in Glasgow and his team lost 3-0 to Slovakia in Trnava.

The question of whether the coach would have taken this position at the start of the campaign is addressed candidly.

‘No, because I thought we would have been better than that,’ he stated. ‘Our position is far better than it was three games ago, so I think we are all feeling a bit better. We weren’t downhearted. If we were and hadn’t had belief, then we couldn’t have done what we did in those next three games.

‘We were buoyant after the Malta game (Scotland won 5-1 a year ago) but then we let ourselves down in the next couple of games. But they (the players) never, at any time, lacked belief.’

There was much to admire in the make-up of Friday night’s performance, from the composure and efficiency in possession to the pace and energy in an attack led by Leigh Griffiths — who now looks unburdened, having broken his international duck with those two superb free-kicks against England.

The dogged determination of centre-backs Christophe Berra and Charlie Mulgrew — currently marooned in England’s League One with Blackburn Rovers — was another bonus.

The opposition were equally poor — Lithuania are perennially seeded only a bracket above the makeweights of Malta and Andorra.

But for the Scots, even the timing of their goals was textbook. Stuart Armstrong’s header established superiority in the 25th minute, Andy Robertson’s spectacular second arrived to effectively kill the game five minutes later.

And, with little more than 20 minutes remaining, James McArthur bundled home the third to prevent the creep of any negative or nervy thoughts as the game moved to its denouement.

Strachan admits he may go with the same team against the Maltese.

‘Yes, the temptation is there but it’s a different system,’ he added. ‘It might need something different and, as I keep saying, it’s all about players. In Lithuania, it was about energy, which we felt was better than theirs.

‘The players we have now can adapt a bit more. There are so many systems you can play but if you have somebody like Andy Robertson who can beat players, it’s great.’

Much has been made of the ten changes in personnel compared to the equivalent home fixture against the Lithuanians a year ago but the blunt truth is that the spine of his team could not physically have played at Hampden last October.

Griffiths was injured. Armstrong was barely on the fringes at Celtic and captain Scott Brown had retired from international football. Mulgrew was out of the game altogether following his release from Parkhead.

‘That’s what happens in a year,’ admitted Strachan. ‘There has been a shift in the players I expect to start games now. Maybe a wee while back, the players we thought would win us games, didn’t.

‘Those we are picking now are winning games for us with flair. The system that we set up defensively helps to ensure we don’t lose the game. Although we have always had that, going forward we need the imagination and need players to do it. At this moment, they are.’

With six starters on Friday night, it’s impossible to ignore the Celtic influence on this team but of the back four, only Kieran Tierney plays his club football with the Scottish champions.

The 20-year-old was again deployed out of position at rightback but played with his customary aggression and calm.

Unusually, he formed part of an all left-footed backline, with Liverpool’s new £8million signing Robertson the star turn.

‘Andy played well and has come on a bundle,’ said Strachan. ‘He has that top-player mentality and also the ability to beat people.

‘I also thought Christophe Berra was excellent. He’s not the most spectacular of players but he is always willing and he did really well. The likes of Tierney, you could stick him anywhere.

‘I’m sure there are guys who were disappointed not to play against Lithuania but most had opportunities in the past and will have again. It’s up to them to grab them.’