TRIPLE TARGET
Clarke challenges Scots to head into play-offs with three wins on the bounce
STEVE CLARKE set Scotland the target of attacking the Euro 2020 play-offs on the back of three wins in a row following yesterday’s success in Cyprus.
A stunning Ryan Christie strike and John McGinn’s fifth international goal took Clarke’s men above the Cypriots into third place in Group I.
With the visit of Kazakhstan to Hampden on Tuesday completing a disappointing Euro 2020 group effort, the national manager has demanded a positive result to end the campaign on a high.
Clarke can then begin plotting for a back-door route to the finals — sealed through their Nations League success — with a more confident Scotland squad in their best form since Lithuania, Malta and Slovakia were defeated under Gordon Strachan in the autumn of 2017.
‘It was important to build on the San Marino victory and, if we win on Tuesday, we will go into
the first play-off game on the back of three victories, which would be great,’ said Clarke.
‘I’m reliably informed that it would be the first time in two years — so that’s another target for us.
‘I’m just looking for another three points in a home game at Hampden.
‘I have to mention the supporters because 3,500 people came over here. They’ll go home with a smile on their face, which is important.
‘It will now be nice to see them get behind the players against Kazakhstan on Tuesday.’
McGinn’s winner came only six minutes after George Efrem had equalised for Cyprus.
‘The response to the setback of 1-1 was really pleasing,’ insisted Clarke. ‘Because we spoke about it at half-time, funnily enough.
‘I pointed out to them that, at 0-0 in Russia at half-time, everyone felt quite good in the dressing room.
‘Our reaction to the adversity of losing the first goal over there in Russia wasn’t great.
‘So we spoke about it and the reaction to the Cyprus goal was really good. We got ourselves back in front with a great team goal.
‘We showed resilience to get the three points we wanted. I’m not going to sit here and say it was a fantastic performance.
‘It was a good performance. And sometimes, when you are on the run of games we are coming out of, it’s more important just to win the match than think about the performance.’
Scotland caught a lucky break before Christie’s 12th-minute opener as Efrem’s effort appeared to cross the line after hitting the underside of the crossbar.
Clarke was unsure about the validity of the goal after viewing the evidence but his counterpart, Ran Ben Shimon, believes Cyprus were robbed by Austrian referee Harald Lechner.
‘It was the decisive moment in the game,’ he said. ‘To lead after six minutes would have been crucial. It was half a metre inside. It was a poor performance from the referee.
‘It was a very close match and could have gone either way. The team that tried to play football lost this game.’