ANDY ROBERTSON has held his hands up to the major blunder that gifted England a crucial second goal in their win at Hampden, but the Scotland captain insists that the national side will be better for a punishing experience against Gareth Southgate’s men.
The Scots have been on a high of late after five wins from five in their qualification group for the European Championships, but their momentum was interrupted by a slick showing from the English, who were well worth their 3-1 win on the night.
Despite being outclassed for large spells of the game though, Robertson says there were plenty of positives to take from Scotland’s second half showing, and that they will take on board the lessons dished out by what turned out to be a superior opponent.
“First half wasn’t good enough, mistakes cost us,” Robertson said. “Second half was better.
“There’s certainly plenty of things to learn playing against top teams like England.
“You have to get off to a better start. We got off to a slow start and let them settle probably more than what we wanted. We let them have control of possession. That didn’t quite bring the fans with us which you need to do on these nights.
“It was not like us from what’s happened over the last 18 months two years.
“Obviously, the mistakes are there. The first goal, we worked on, we know they are dangerous from throw ins. We had to get the pressure on the ball quicker and by the time they’re out, good players can punish you.
“Second goal, completely my fault. I’ll take that one. It was just one of those mistakes unfortunately you can’t quite out your finger on. They’re very rare but in these big games they cost you.
“So, I’ve taken that on the chin. I’ve said to the boys, apologised to them and the manager and everyone else.
“Second half better, I thought we put them under pressure, we forced them into mistakes before the goal. The goal was a good one.
“It got us back into the game, 2-1, the crowd was up and a couple of chances after that, a few half chances.
“But you’re coming up against a team that has a prolific number nine and you gave him a half space and unfortunately he took it. I think that took the wind out of the whole stadium.”
Though disappointed himself, Robertson has urged the Tartan Army to maintain a sense of perspective over how far the national side have come, and how close they are to achieving their goal of qualification for another major tournament.
“We know we are not the finished article and tonight proved that,” he said. “We still have a lot of improvement to come.
“It’s always important to take a step back and see where we have come from, with the fact we are five out of five in the campaign. I don't think anyone would have thought that was possible a few years ago.
“We’ll take a bit of perspective. We were playing a good team and we weren’t quite at it and got punished. But we are still in a very good moment and the country should still feel that.
“The main thing this week was the three points in Cyprus. We never spoke about England until that game was out of the way and I wouldn’t have swapped three points in Cyprus for a win over England. Simple as that.
“Maybe some fans would but no one in the dressing room would – because we want to be competing at major tournaments. We are one point away, but we are not there yet and we need to get over the line.
“We are in a fantastic position, but fans can be disappointed with tonight, they can criticise me or other people, that’s football.
“But it’s important we keep a bit of perspective.”
Despite only requiring a single point from their final three games to qualify, and with Norway needing to follow up their narrow win over Georgia by winning the rest of their own matches to usurp the Scots, there are still some nerves among supporters about Scotland getting over the line.
Robertson though says that this squad of players are trying to break free from the doom-mongering mentality that has long been a hallmark of the Scotland setup.
“We have to get away from that mentality,” he said.
“It’s always been the mentality since I was growing up as a Scotland fan and as being a Scotland player, it’s always been the mentality.
“As a group of boys and as a staff we’ve tried to come away from that mentality and create our own mentality.
“There were probably certain people thinking we were going to stuff up going over to Cyprus, but we put in one of the most professional performances we’ve had under the gaffer.
“It’s not done until it’s done. I’m not one to get ahead of myself or get carried away, so until we are qualified I wont be talking about Germany.
“We need a point, simple as that, but the position we are in just now is a strong one. We have to capitalise on it.”
