Former St Mirren star John McGinn admits it’s a strange feeling to have helped Scotland maintain a perfect record at the halfway stage of a qualifying campaign.
After years of failing to qualify for a major tournament, Steve Clarke’s impressive side are now on the cusp of making it to back-to-back European Championships.
Last night’s rain-soaked victory against Georgia ensured Scotland made it an incredible four wins from their opening four group stage games for the first time in the national team’s history.
Qualification for next year’s tournament in Germany now looks all but assured, with main rivals Norway toiling and still to visit Glasgow.
And ex-Buddies hero McGinn believes something has changed in the Hampden dressing room, with a new level of confidence and self-belief coursing through the veins of his international team-mates.
He said: “The motivation for us was four wins out of four.
“It’s surreal for us to say that as Scottish players, but something has changed in that dressing room and we’re certainly building something here and it’s exciting.
“We’re looking at the table now and starting to get really excited.
“Spain have got games to catch us up. We want to qualify and we’re very close now, which is exciting in itself but one step at a time.”
It was a bizarre night at Mount Florida on Tuesday for the players and supporters, with the game delayed for over an hour as the groundstaff tried to ensure the pitch was playable after a pre-kick off deluge.
McGinn felt the lengthy break wasn’t fair on the fans, insisting their Georgian counterparts were trying to get the game called off altogether.
He said: “It feels a bit subdued. It’s a huge win for us and we’re obviously delighted, but it was a really strange night and something none of us have experienced before.
“But we dealt with it in the best way possible and credit to all the groundstaff and everyone who got together - even the ball boys were helping at one point.
“It was really important we got the game played and thankfully for all of us we did.
“The message amid all the confusion was to concentrate, but I wasn’t doing much concentrating!
“I didn’t know what was going on. One minute it was kicking off in 10 minutes, then 20 minutes, then 30 minutes.
“It wasn’t fair on the fans. I think the game could have been played a little bit earlier but Georgia were at it and wanted the game stopped.
“We would probably have done in the same situation, so it was difficult, especially for the referee.
“Thankfully common sense prevailed in the end and we got the game played, but it certainly could have been played earlier.”
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