Steve Clarke is delighted with Scotland’s “strong begin” to World Cup qualifying after they continued their unbeaten begin with a 2-0 win over Belarus.
Scotland opened their qualifying marketing campaign with a hard-earned 0-0 draw with Denmark earlier than following that up with one other morale-boosting consequence.
Behind closed doorways on the ZTE-Enviornment in Hungary, Scotland took the lead on the finish of the primary half, with Scott McTominay organising Che Adams for a close to end within the forty third minute.
Billy Gilmour had struck the woodwork simply moments earlier than, and was additionally denied a purpose within the second half as his header throughout purpose hit Zakhar Volkov and flew into the web 65 minutes in.
The win leaves Scotland second in Group C on purpose distinction, boosting their hopes of qualifying for the 2026 World Cup.
And Clarke was most happy with a second consecutive clear sheet for his aspect, although he famous Scotland nonetheless have work to do.
“It was a troublesome night time. I anticipated the response Belarus gave,” he advised BBC Scotland. “They began large guys and stuffed the center of the park.
“We stored prodding, doing what we needed to do. The message was simply to remain affected person, and we managed to do this.
“It’s a very good begin, a strong begin. 4 factors won’t ever qualify you for something. It’s good to go house with a smile in your face, however I’m already eager about subsequent month.
“Billy and Ben [Gannon-Doak] are two gamers who excite the general public. My job is to select a group to win the sport. Each of them did very nicely.
“Clear sheets are what we have now to construct our marketing campaign on.”
Scotland have now misplaced simply one in all their final 18 World Cup qualifiers (W12 D5), and haven’t stored a clear sheet in every of their final 5 such qualifiers.
They put Belarus underneath stress on the different finish as nicely, although, accumulating 1.98 anticipated objectives (xG) from their 14 pictures, and restricted Belarus to simply 0.33 xG.
Gilmour famous that there are positives to take from Scotland’s September camp and is hopeful they will preserve constructing on that in October.
“Arduous night time with out the followers, however the entire group did nicely,” Gilmour advised BBC Scotland.
“It’s good to play soccer – nobody desires to take a seat on the bench, however we’ve obtained a very good squad right here.
“Even towards Denmark, I believed we performed rather well. Two good performances this camp, and hopefully the following one’s the identical.
“We’re all in good spirits. We knew how necessary it was to begin nicely, and we’ve executed that.”