HE was cursing Spain on Thursday night as Scotland suffered the first defeat of their Euro 2024 qualifying campaign in cruel fashion in Seville after a stunning Scott McTominay goal was disallowed.
However, Nathan Patterson, who came on for Andy Robertson in the first half of the Group A match after his captain sustained a shoulder injury, will have no qualms whatsoever about cheering on La Roja this evening.
Patterson and his team mates are hoping their midweek opponents can get a draw or a victory against Norway in the Ullevaal Stadium in Oslo - and book their place in the finals in Germany next summer for them.
“They got the result on Thursday and with a bit of luck they can go and get another one,” he said. “They will be wanting to get the result and try to top the group. If they do that, then it will go our way as well.
“Of course I will be supporting them on Sunday night. They are a top team so I don’t see why they wouldn’t keep on getting better. Teams like that want to get to the very top and stay at the top.”
But the 21-year-old, who acquitted himself well in difficult circumstances in La Cartuja, firmly believes that Scotland can bounce back from the Spain loss, finish first in their Euro 2024 section and give their fans more to applaud going forward as well.
The national team came within a VAR call of getting a result against the 10th placed side in the FIFA World Rankings away from home in midweek despite not having Kieran Tierney of Real Sociedad and Robertson of Liverpool, two of their outstanding performers this year, on the field.
The fact that Aaron Hickey of Brentford and Patterson shone in such a challenging outing augurs well for the country’s future.
“You look at the team and you look at the strength in the squad and it’s great,” said Patterson. “There is competition for places and that will just push you and make sure that you are performing well. That is what we are doing and we are getting the results on the pitch.
“Seville was obviously a hard place to go. We knew we were up against top opposition. But I thought the boys dug in really well. It was a gritty performance. In the second half we got the goal and thought we were 1-0 up. I thought it was a good performance from the boys apart from the two goals we conceded.
“It’s tough to come on in those type of games. You just need to make sure you are ready in every moment. But when you are coming on you are coming in to a team where everyone knows exactly what they are doing and everyone is together and trying to get the best result they possibly can. It helps you a lot.
“We obviously had the goal chalked off by VAR. Sometimes you get those type of nights where nothing goes your way. But you just need to keep digging deep and making sure the team is working together and I thought we did that right to the end.”
He added: “Before Thursday night we had five wins from five in qualifying so you can take what you want from that. We are a completely different side now. We are going to places like Spain and challenging and wanting to win.
“The way this team is going now, we want to win every game that we possibly can. We want to go to places like Spain, put them on the back foot and show what we can do. I thought we did that on Thursday. It was a disappointing night, but there were positives.”
The former Rangers kid fell foul of Dutch referee Serdar Gozubuyuk – whose erratic performance has prompted the SFA to write to the UEFA – when he was shown a yellow card for an innocuous challenge. He did well to maintain his discipline thereafter.
“I got booked for nothing,” said Patterson. “I didn’t even think it was a foul. I just got my body across and the Spain player has played the ref well and got a foul. I didn’t even say anything to the ref. The player went over and he has ended up booking me.
“I was a bit annoyed with that. Then it puts me in a sticky situation where I can’t really get tight to him and put my tackles in. It is just the way the game goes, you have got to deal with it. I thought I did well doing that.”
Steve Clarke has preferred Hickey to Patterson at right wing back during the Euro 2024 campaign and the former Hearts and Bologna player has justified his inclusion and grown in both influence and maturity. He was one of the best Scotland players against Spain.
He slipped just outside his own area late on, gave away possession to Joselu and allowed Oihan Sancent to net a second for the hosts. But his compatriot felt that rare error did not detract from an exceptional display.
“We all support Aaron,” he said. “That is what we are here to do, we are team mates. But, to be honest, nobody has even said anything about it. He had a great game right from the very start. It is just an unfortunate mistake. But it doesn’t really detract from his performance to be honest because he was great.”
Patterson is optimistic that Scotland can put the Seville reverse behind them in their friendly against France in Lille on Tuesday evening and win their next Euro 2024 qualifier against Georgia in Tbilisi next month regardless of what happens between Norway and Spain.
“We are on top of the group right now and hopefully we can get the results we need to stay there,” he said.
