Ex-Hibs star Ryan Porteous hails 'special night' as Scotland beat Spain at Hampden Park

Ryan Porteous hailed a “special night” at Hampden Park as Scotland defeated Spain 2-0 to lead their Euro 2024 qualification group after two games.

Scott McTominay celebrates making it 1-0 to Scotland during the European Championships qualifier against Spain. Picture: SNS

Scott McTominay struck in the opening minutes of each half to lift the roof off the national stadium and give Steve Clarke’s the ideal start to this campaign.

It was a third appearance for Porteous in a Scotland jersey and the former Hibs defender helped make it a third successive clean sheet in competitive matches since being brought into the fold.

He hailed the unity of his team-mates as they each battled to a man to ensure the sell-out crowd went home in a jubilant mood.

“It’s a special night against a really top team,” Porteous told BBC Radio Scotland. “We always believed as a squad that we could pull it off. Games at home, especially in this competition, you want to pick up points and fortunately we’ve done that. It’s fantastic. The crowd obviously played a massive part as well and we’re grateful to them.

“It’s what we have been trying to put together over the last four or five years since the manager came in. We’re very fortunate to have him and the structure he has put in behind he scenes. He’s been quite honest with his squad and kept the same players if they’re doing well.

"It’s enjoyable to be around the place. There’s not one bad egg in that changing room. It shows on the park that we are all together and the strength and numbers we have coming off the bench.”

Spain put Scotland under a considerable amount of pressure as the game drew to a close but they weren’t able to create a clear-cut opportunity to reduce the arrears as the home defence held strong.

“It’s the kind of game of game I like to be playing in. One when you are defending the majority of the time. You need to stay concentrated. I thought, Grant, Kieran and I done that,” said Porteous.

"We were fortunate in the first half with the guy hitting the bar and Angus making a save as well, but they are a good team and they are going to create chances. We limited them to very few and credit to the gaffer and Austin McPhee for having such a structure within that defensive line that we have been working on all week.”

The result also marks the first time Scotland have defeated Spain since 1984. Back then Mo Johnston netted twice and Kenny Dalglish got the other in an important victory on the road to the World Cup in Mexico 1986.

Porteous and his team-mates will be hoping this result is a good omen, though the players know to keep their feet on the ground.

“Of course it is brilliant. We knew it was a record that a lot of people were talking about. This group likes to break records and we’ve done it over the last four or five years,” said the Watford defender.

“It puts us in a good position. We’ve had two games games and picked up six points, but there’s a lot of football left to be played so we are not getting carried away.”

Message from the editor

Thank you for reading this article. If you haven't already, please consider supporting our sports coverage with a digital sports subscription.