TRUE GRIT GOT US THROUGH

Christie praises Scotland’s courage in topping Nations League section

IN every conceivable sense, Scotland are now in a different place to the ones occupied in the immediate and distant past. Four years on from scuffling with Albania and Israel as Alex McLeish’s side won promotion from the third tier of the Nations League, Steve Clarke’s men will rub shoulders with the continent’s elite nations throughout its next cycle.

More immediately, in Frankfurt on Sunday week, their reward for shutting out Ukraine in Krakow on Tuesday will manifest itself with a place in pot two for the Euro 2024 draw.

The insurance policy of a guaranteed play-off for the tournament is welcome but it no longer feels essential.

If this redoubtable squad can replicate the courage shown this month throughout next year’s regular qualifiers, surely a secondplace finish should be well within their grasp?

The picture for the national team right now isn’t so much bright as dazzling. Seven points taken from two games with Ukraine and one with the Republic of Ireland would be commendable at the best of times. To do so while ravaged by injuries, illness and suspension means no praise is too high.

How the mood music has changed. Just 119 days separated the funereal feel which surrounded the loss to Ukraine in a delayed World Cup playoff to the euphoria of winning League B Group 1 with a goalless draw against the same opponent. ‘We are going up,’ chanted the Tartan Army in unison at full-time. ‘England’s going down.’ ‘That was big,’ stated Ryan Christie, a substitute on the night. ‘We said going into the week we wanted to reverse the thoughts we had coming out of the summer. ‘I don’t think we could have asked for a better week, to be fair. ‘You would like to make it perfect and win tonight but, when we saw the conditions, the pitch, the hostile crowd, we did well to dig in and get a point.’ It may not have been the swashbuckling show that floored Ukraine at Hampden six days previously or the nerveless display that saw Clarke’s side come from behind to defeat Ireland last Saturday. But given the extraordinary levels of adversity they encountered in the build-up, and what was on the line, the sheer guts shown by a makeshift side made it arguably the most impressive of the side’s three matches. Already missing stellar names such as Andy Robertson, Kieran Tierney, Nathan Patterson, Scott McTominay and Scott McKenna, the virus which ripped through the camp over the weekend was the last thing the manager needed.

Already forced to play a debutant in Ryan Porteous alongside Jack Hendry, a defender who had sampled just 97 minutes of club football for Brugge and Cremonese this season, Clarke had no option but to ask a handful of players who had been laid low with sickness to grit their teeth and power through. ‘Some of the boys were hit quite badly,’ Christie explained. ‘A few managed to keep going but weren’t feeling great, so that on top of a lot of injuries we’ve had — a lot of curveballs have been thrown at us this campaign.

‘But even the boys who have been called up like Stephen Kingsley doing well and Porto (Porteous) winning his first cap and being unbelievable… it shows, moving forward, that we have strength in depth.’

After the dismal display in Dublin that came ten days after that ticket to Qatar was torn up, you would have got a decent price on Scotland bouncing back quite so spectacularly to win the group.

To do so with so many factors conspiring against them made the outcome especially satisfying.

‘Yes, 100 per cent,’ said Christie. ‘After Ireland (at Hampden), we were delighted with the result but we had to settle down quite quickly and realise we still had to do a job.

‘To get that over the line and top the group, everyone is buzzing and looking forward to the next qualifier.’

He will return to club duties at Bournemouth with a smile on his

face. Promotion to the top league in the week that england were relegated?

‘It’s not a bad thing that’s for sure,’ smiled Christie. ‘Does it give me ammo for going back to the dressing room at Bournemouth? Maybe... that would be nice! We just want to keep building on this.’

So many played their parts in what proved to be a triumphant triple-header.

John McGinn and Lyndon Dykes doing the damage against Ukraine first time out.

Porteous and Craig Gordon refusing to yield under pressure in Krakow. The meat in the sandwich was Christie’s calmly taken late penalty that completed the turnaround against the Irish.

Without coach Austin MacPhee telling the player which way Irish keeper Gavin Bazuna normally dived, the whole vibe might have been markedly different.

‘That’s been one of the key things Austin has brought in,’ Christie said. ‘In terms of our set-plays, everything is better.

‘We are such a threat attacking them and we are defending them better.’

Of course, the only headline fact that truly matters right now is that Scotland are on the rise. A summer of despondency has given way to an autumn brimming with opportunities.

‘The gaffer touched on how disappointing the summer was when he spoke at the start of the week,’ Christie continued.

‘That’s gone now and all we can do is look forward to the next competition we can qualify for.

‘We want to keep building. The play-off route helped us qualify the last time, so it’s nice to have that in the pocket but we have to push ourselves all the way.’