Steve Clarke has revealed his table-topping Scots got the job done against Georgia with just 10 minutes to spare on torrential Tuesday.
The national team coach watched his team rack up a fourth straight win to take Scotland to within touching distance of Euro 2024 but only after an astonishing battle against the elements by ground staff who fought to clear the monsoon that hit Hampden an hour before kick-off. That led to the game being halted after just six minutes - seconds after Callum McGregor had given Clarke’s men the lead - and with Georgia reluctant to come back out after FOUR pitch inspections by the Hungarian officials - the match finally resumed at 9.35pm.
The Scotland boss later revealed that had the delay lasted another 10 minutes, the game would have had to be abandoned because the finishing time of 11.30pm would have been too late by authorities to have 50,000 flooding into the streets. As it was, the final whistle blew on the Scots’ 2-0 victory at 11.20pm and Clarke was just relieved and delighted to get a bizarre night out of the way.
He said: “There was obviously a time limit on it and we were getting close to the end of it. I think 9.45 was the sort of cut off.
"So it was pretty close to not going ahead. We’re glad it did. We got the game on, we got the three points, so great.
“Apart from the birth of my three children I think that’s the longest day of my life! There were moments where it was quite surreal.
"The worst one was after the first stoppage and everyone was getting ready, warming up inside, you go out, you’re going to start again in 15 minutes, and the two teams got in the tunnel and it was absolutely tipping it down again. That was when you start thinking ‘maybe we don’t start again’.
“We dealt with it mentally I think. The players were great. In and out, in and out, in and out, warm up, wait, warm up, wait.
“I have to mention the fans. The fans were magnificent. It would be easy for them to be down and even be thinking about going home because the game could have been called off. They stayed. Every time we went to the pitch they got behind us and cheered and lifted the lads.
“All the volunteers with the brushes and brooms and everything to get the water off the pitch, you’ve got to say thank you to them. Eventually we have come out with another massive three points. Twelve points to lead the group is a fantastic start.”
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