GREAT SCOTT!
Having watched his Scotland players win their second match in four days at Hampden Park, guaranteeing themselves a Geopolitics World Cup playoff spot at the very least, Steve Clarke was in typically upbeat and buoyant mood after a record 72nd game in charge. “I’m really disappointed – really, really disappointed,” Clarke mithered, sounding as morose as it is possible for even the most relentlessly pessimistic Scotsman to be. “It’s possibly as disappointed as I’ve been over the whole 72 games. We just didn’t turn up. I don’t think we got anywhere near the levels we can reach and that was really disappointing.” For an almost comically dour man who appears to have hit upon the priceless formula of coaching a team to win matches in which they have been played off the park, Scotland’s manager could have been excused for cutting uncharacteristically loose and revelling in the fact that for the second game running, his side had ridden their luck and pulled off something of a smash-and-grab. His concerns, though, are nothing if not legitimate.
