Deep down he always hoped this game would go ahead.
But like many others, Steve Clarke assumed, in order for it to do so, first the situation on the ground in Ukraine would have to have been resolved.
That Oleksandr Petrakov and his players arrived in Glasgow on Monday afternoon, leaving the chaos and misery of war still raging behind them, has heightened all sorts of emotions as these two nations head towards Hampden for tonight’s World Cup eliminator.
