PAYBACK TIME FOR HICKEY

Defender endured a baptism of fire in painful play-off defeat but he showed his true worth in victory against Ukraine

UKRAINE drank from an ocean-sized well of goodwill to overwhelm Scotland in June’s World Cup play-off. The payback from their wounded hosts was entirely without sentiment. The best 45 minutes of Steve Clarke’s reign saw the national team take their spirited opponents apart on their return to Hampden last Wednesday night.

As one who suffered a particularly torrid evening three months earlier, Aaron Hickey felt a sense of vindication: ‘It was a good night for us, we showed the fans that we were back.’ So was revenge in the players’ minds? ‘Yeah, a little bit.’

The emotion and tension surrounding that June encounter was palpable to even the most battle-hardened of Scotland’s playing and coaching staff.

Spare a thought, then, for what the 20-year-old Hickey must have been going through on his very first start for his country.

With World Cup qualification at stake for the first time in nearly a quarter of a century, it was always going to be a pressure assignment regardless of the geopolitical context.

Spurred on by an enflamed sense of patriotism, Ukraine’s footballers were taking the field for the first time since Russia’s military onslaught earlier in the year and had the backing of neutrals across the globe.

Inspired by a midfield masterclass from Oleksandr Zinchenko, they played above and beyond their apparent limitations to overwhelm their hosts.

Asked to occupy an unfamiliar position at right wing-back, it was a chastening experience for Hickey.

Yet if there was any lingering apprehension in the former Hearts defender’s mind as the Ukrainians revisited Glasgow for the first instalment of a Nations League triple-header, it did not show.

‘This game felt very different to June, with everything that was happening at that time,’ he admitted after Wednesday’s 3-0 victory. ‘We handled it better, we pressed them and we did better as a team.

‘There was a lot of pressure on us in the play-off, it was a sad night and we knew we had to repay the fans.’

Forced into unexpected early action in place of the injured Nathan Patterson, Hickey came on after just 26 minutes last midweek and tore into the action with impressive relish.

Faced directly with Ukraine’s rising star Mykhaylo Mudryk, this was an altogether more aggressive showing, one in keeping with an impressively assertive team performance.

Hickey hoovered up space, snapped into tackles and used the ball efficiently.

He puts that down, in part, to the change of formation initiated by Clarke, a 4-3-3 shape that deployed he and Kieran Tierney (right) as conventional full-backs.

Hickey has been occupying a similar role for Thomas Frank since joining his new club Brentford from

Bologna for the not insignificant sum of £15million in the summer.

He spent two years in Serie A, a period in which he not only improved tactically and technically but also filled out physically to become a far more robust proposition than the slight teenager who left Tynecastle in 2020.

‘I have been playing rightback this season and I am getting used to it,’ he said. ‘I will play anywhere the manager wants. But if it’s a back four I prefer right-back but if it’s a five I like being on the left.

‘Playing in Serie A helped my confidence. Now playing in the

English Premier League every week, against some of the best players in the world, can only help me develop as well.

‘It is really intense down there, but I am enjoying it. ‘Thomas Frank is really good. I already knew he was a smart guy as I had spoken to a few people about him. I am enjoying working under him.’

The Patterson/Hickey substitution highlighted the depth that now exists in the Scotland squad, one young Premier League regular replacing another. Clarke’s starting XI included eight English top-flight players, plus veteran keeper Craig Gordon, Celtic captain Callum McGregor and defender Jack Hendry, who is now playing in Italy with Cremonese.

‘I was thinking that to myself before the game,’ continued Hickey. ‘You look around the dressing room and we have a strong team right now.

‘I feel we can be successful going forward. And perhaps do something special.’

Although a back three had largely served Clarke well for the previous two years, the formation was essentially broken in to accommodate both Tierney and Andy Robertson.

In June, Tierney was absent and the limitations of the system were exposed as Liam Cooper filled in on the left of a back three and resorted to lumping long balls to Lyndon Dykes.

With captain Robertson missing this time, Clarke tried something different and the change worked a treat, releasing Scott McTominay into his preferred midfield role.

With Tierney (left) performing so well on the left, the old one-or-other debate will reignite the next time both are available for selection.

And the same may also be true on the other side of the pitch.

‘I hope so,’ laughed Hickey. ‘We have two brilliant left-backs and on the right Nathan has done really well at Everton. I don’t see us as rivals. We are mates and we speak to each other quite a lot.

‘We push each other on, of course we do, we both want to play, but we all want Scotland to be successful.

‘We have a few big-name players and plenty of boys who are playing at the highest level but we work really well as a team. You can tell the boys enjoy it.’

Having settled a score in Glasgow, Scotland now head for the neutral territory of Poland to face Ukraine for the final fixture of Nations League Group B1.

The game will be played at the Cracovia Stadium in Krakow, and Hickey is likely to again have his hands full trying to suppress Mudryk, the young Shakhtar Donetsk forward who has been linked with Liverpool, Arsenal and Newcastle United.

Mudryk announced his arrival to Scotland fans with a dashing cameo from the bench in the play-off,

a brief confrontation that allowed

Hickey to get the measure of his opponent.

The defender may not get the chance to take part in part three of the trilogy after going off injured last night but, speaking after the Ukraine victory, he acknowledged the winger is a real threat to Scotland’s prospects.

‘He came on late in June and I just remember thinking how fast he was,’ said Hickey. ‘This time, it was me coming into the game and I knew this time that I had to block the space for him to run into.

‘It can be tough to come on so early in a game but you just have to do the best you can and be confident.

‘As a team, we didn’t let them play and we pressed them really well and that’s something we are going to have to do again on Tuesday.’

At stake this time is the opportunity to

close out the group in top spot and claim not only promotion to tier A, but nail down an all-important play-off spot that will ease the strain going into the Euro 2024 qualifiers.

Clarke may have pulled a rabbit out of the hat last week but there are unlikely to be any surprises in store for either team as they go again for the third time this year.

‘I don’t think playing them again so soon will really impact this game,’ shrugged Hickey. ‘Listening to what the manager has said, we have a feel of what to do against them and I’m sure we will be prepared.

‘If we want to be successful going forward, we have to go in with confidence, especially after beating them by three goals.

‘It could give us an edge but we have to forget what happened at Hampden. ‘We could get into Pot A by winning the group and that’s a big incentive.’