JACK HENDRY is hopeful that his growing defensive partnership with Scott McKenna can help fire Scotland to Group A of the Nations League.
Steve Clarke’s side are in top form having beaten Ukraine and Ireland already this international break and they now travel to Poland to face Ukraine again as they wrap up their group stage fixtures.
A victory or draw will secure promotion and Hendry is confident that he and his teammates can produce the goods for a third game in a row.
He said: “We only needed a point on Saturday against Ireland but we didn’t have that sort of mentality. We wanted to win the game and it will be the same on Tuesday.
“We go into the game in Poland and we want another three points. We have good momentum and we want to keep that up.
“You can’t go into a game looking for a draw, so we are going for the win. It is in our hands at the minute and we want to try to make the most of this opportunity to finish top of the group and get into Pot A.”
On his central defensive partnership with McKenna, Hendry continued: “Scotty and I have played together a few years ago and I think we have a good connection.
“We play together well and know each other's strengths and I like playing with him. He’s in the English Premier League so he has come on leaps and bounds and I enjoy playing with him.”
Hendry scored for Scotland as they came from behind to clinch victory against Ireland on Saturday.
The former Celtic and Dundee defender is now plying his trade in Serie A with Cremonese and the 27-year-old admits he is loving his football for both club and country.
“It was a good game against Ireland and I thought both teams went for the win and it was very competitive.
“It always is when it is Scotland against Ireland and thankfully we came out on top. Ireland made it difficult for us, especially in the first half. But we spoke at half-time about how we could hurt them and we did that in the second.
“It is a bit different as the game is maybe a bit more frantic and end to end than Serie A.
“The game was open at times but it was a good spectacle for the fans to watch and it would have gotten them off their seat at times. Ireland made it difficult for us but we came out on top.”
On his goal, Hendry added: “I followed my run as we had momentum and I got into the box and thankfully Ryan Christie picked me out and I got on the end of it.
“It was a good point to get a goal and it changed the momentum of the game towards us.
“We did well to get the win in the end.”
