Steve Clarke not looking past Belarus as World Cup dream 'one step closer' after stirring Greece comeback win
Level-headed Scotland boss praised his side for staging an unlikely comeback against Greece but is refusing to get carried away
Steve Clarke has confessed he won’t allow himself to start dreaming of next summer’s World Cup finals just yet - insisting full focus is on claiming maximum points against Belarus on Sunday.
The Scots took a gigantic step towards securing a play-off place at the very least by staging an unlikely comeback win over a dominant Greece at Hampden Park to avenge the Nations League relegation inflicted on them in March.
For almost 70 minutes, the hosts were outplayed again by their visitors and the situation looked bleak when ex-Liverpool defender Kostas Tsimikas drilled home just after the hour mark. But goals from Ryan Christie, Lewis Ferguson and substitute Lyndon Dykes turned the match on its head.
It means if Scotland clinch maximum points against bottom seeds Belarus at home on Sunday and the Greeks lose in Denmark, Clarke’s men will be nailed on for a top-two finish in the group and ensure, at worst, they will have the fallback of a play-off to reach the finals in North America.
“It’s a big win for us,” Clarke beamed. “On the performance side of it, you have to understand how hard we worked out of possession. A difficult first-half, but we had to dig in and I thought we showed a good attitude.
“When they scored the goal, the shackles came off a bit and from there we finished the game strong. The Greeks are a very good side and had a lot of the ball first half but they weren't carving us open.
“Defensively it was a tough night for us. The Greeks were very slick with their movement and their speed of pass. We spoke about a few things at half-time. Football is a 90-minute game and you have to make sure you come out of it with a positive result.
“3-1 maybe flatters us, but we did enough to win the game. It gives us three points and takes us one step closer to where we want to get to. We can only concentrate on ourselves. We have to win here and see what the situation is after that.”
Scotland without suspended midfield duo for Belarus clash
Clarke will have to make do without goal scorers Christie and Ferguson against Belarus through suspension after the pair picked up yellow cards, while right-back Aaron Hickey was forced off with a muscle injury and is now rated as a major doubt.
“He’s just tweaked his knee,” the head coach admitted when asked for an update on Hickey’s initial injury prognosis. “Aaron was actually a doubt to start the game after picking up a small knock to his knee and I think he’s just aggravated it. I don’t know for sure yet, but that was the reason I called Max (Johnston) into the squad as cover.
“Obviously, there will be at least three changes (for Sunday). There was always going to be changes anyway, but when I looked at my bench tonight, I think I’ve got probably as strong a squad as I’ve put together over the past few camps.
“But I’ll still have a little look around and see if we can bring someone in who might help us against Belarus. We won’t underestimate them. If the goals come then great, but we just have to win the game, first and foremost.”
What Greece boss Ivan Jovanovic has said
“Scotland took advantage of our mistakes and ended up winning the game. When you lose, it’s more a matter of discussion about how you lost the game. It’s a qualification phase of six games.
“Overall tonight, with the exception of those two chances, I don’t think we played badly. In the end, the overall set of matches will decide how the group table finishes.”