1 week Ago By Ryan Rowe
STEVE CLARKE celebrated John McGinn’s late winner over ten-man Croatia that ended Scotland’s five-month wait for a victory. But he admits his side must now raise their game to beat Poland in Warsaw. 3 John McGinn runs to the fans after scoring the winner against Croatia Credit: Alamy 3 Ben Doak assisted him and was given the player of the match award Credit: Getty 3 Steve Clarke was a happy man after the match and is ready to unleash Doak further Credit: Getty Hero McGinn stepped off the bench to hit the net after 85 minutes at Hampden.
Clarke ’s team can now finish second in their Nations League group if results go their way on Monday night. And he said: “My first thoughts as I come off the pitch is that we can play better. “I think we can be better with the ball, I think we can be more clinical when we get to the final third of the pitch.
Read more Scotland stories CLASS ACT Ben Doak is our next WORLD CLASS player and Clarke knows it says ex-Scots boss TURN OF PACE Moment Ben Doak 'ENDS CAREER' of £80m star with stunning piece of skill “Obviously the sending off changes the direction of the game but we were due a little break. “I've always said this is a group of players that want to be successful and want to do well for their country. “You see that again tonight, maybe not as good as we can with the ball but another clean sheet, that's two in a row.
“If you don't concede goals you always have a chance to win the game. Most read in Football SCOTLAND 1 CROATIA 0 McGinn keeps Nations League hopes alive as Doak steals show vs Croatia TURN OF PACE Moment Ben Doak 'ENDS CAREER' of £80m star with stunning piece of skill GER MISS Steven Gerrard slams FA for ignoring player he was 'desperate' to bring to Rangers SLEAZE SHAME SPFL club chief quit after 'late-night texts to young players and bum grope' “Now we have to win. “And our first job is to go there and win.
Lawrence Shankland looks UNHAPPY but he's still Scotland's most natural striker, say Bill Leckie & Robert Grieve “If we do that then we'll count up the goals and whatever afterwards. “But let's take it a step at a time. “It’s been a hell of a long time since we got a win, now we've got to get another one on Monday night.
“But it would be nice to get back to back wins. “I think we can. “The game here at Hampden was pretty even, a pretty close game.
“Obviously we gave away two penalties which is not ideal. “We gave away three goals to a team that will score goals. “But they also concede goals so hopefully we can go there and score a few.
” Ben Doak was named man of the match with the 19 year-old setting up McGinn to score the 85th minute winner. Clarke added: “He was good but I thought he might be. “He's come into the team, he's shown a really positive attitude, he brings us something a little bit different to what we've had before.
“So I'm really pleased with Ben and he gets the assist for the goal with the run. “He could maybe have had a couple more and could maybe have scored one himself. “So that's a contribution from a young player that we need to protect and look after.
“But I realise he's good for now and hopefully for a long time in the future . “What Ben's done over the last few games, I just felt it wasn't the time to take him out the firing line. “I looked at Ryan (Christie) and Ben's contribution the last time we played.
“We expected Croatia to play with their back three and the wing-backs. Both Ben and Ryan did well for us out in Croatia . “So that was the thinking behind that.
“But I also knew that I was strengthening the bench a little bit. “You've got John to come in and he does what he does by coming off the bench and scoring the winner.” Clarke admits Croatia were unlucky to have midfielder Sucic sent off after 43 minutes.
He added: “I think when you put two yellow cards together to get a red, I'm not sure it was strong enough to be a red. “If I'm being honest, if it had happened against us, I would have been just as disappointed as they were.” Croatia boss Zlatko Dalic was furious with the decision.
He groaned: “The red card changed the whole game. Read more on the Scottish Sun GONE FOR GOOD Popular food chain with 9 branches across UK suddenly closes only Scots store HERO REMEMBERED Glasgow gets green light for new statue of iconic figure in city centre “If you ask me, it was not deserved. “We had seven fouls in the whole game and, of those, four were yellow cards and one was a red.
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