No-one’s saying it’s been perfect. But as we approach four years since Steve Clarke took the job, it’s good to be a Scotland fan again.
Anyone who tells you otherwise clearly didn’t witness the way we faced up to the team ranked tenth in the world - 32 places above us - and took them to the cleaners. The feeling around Hampden before the game was that Scotland had a puncher's chance of taking something and when the team news came out, with Clarke going a little more attacking than predicted and Spain boss Luis de la Fuente making EIGHT changes, the volume of that quiet confidence was turned up a couple of notches.
But within six and a half minutes of the game, everyone in the national stadium sensed it was only going one way. Scott McTominay was the hero on the night with his late runs into the box proving the secret weapon for the second game running. Both goals were born from our world class quality down the left hand side - the first assisted by Andy Robertson and the second by Kieran Tierney who blew past Dani Carvajal as if he wasn't even there.
Setting the tone
The tone for the game though was set by a moment down the Scotland right in the first half. Rodri may think we're just a bunch of thugs and time-wasters but the ease with which Aaron Hickey, Ryan Porteous and John McGinn beat the Spain press with four one-touch passes before breaking down the opposite flank suggested that the wholesale changes Luis de la Fuente made ahead of the game were badly misguided.
The quality Scotland had on the ball caught Spain off-guard throughout but it was matched by some gamesmanship that well and truly left them rattled. Around the half-hour mark Grant Hanley clattered into Joselu; by the end of the first half, the veteran Espanyol frontman was flapping his arms at the linesman for a throw-in that was Scotland's all day long.
Pedro Porro going down like a led balloon in an effort to get Andy Robertson sent off had the Hampden masses hounding him, so much so that he had to be hooked at half-time. That's fair game as far as the Spanish players were concerned, but when Aaron Hickey rolls back onto the pitch after taking a knock, he's immediately surrounded by virtually every outfield player in red, protesting one of grave injustices Rodri was so keen to point out after the game.
Home advantage
The sold out Hampden crowd was as it has been in years and the baying home fans more than played their part in dictating the feel of the game. New No.1 Angus Gunn said after the game he'd never seen anything like it, and there was a moment taken straight out of a pantomime that may have got him out of jail.
As the game approached the final 20, the Norwich shotstopper claimed a corner - business as usual there for a man who is now the undisputed No.1 - and took his time to let his area clear. The stand behind him roared as he went to throw the ball down, prompting him to glance over his shoulder and see what all the fuss was about.
Sub striker Borja Iglesias was then informed - politely, I'm sure - to jog on before the ball went anywhere. He'd been lurking in the hopes of a cheeky interception and left the box with his head down and his tail between his legs.
Experience everywhere
Andy Robertson pointed to the international experience Scotland now have all over the pitch, a by-product of Clarke's insistence on returning to the same group of players time and again. It's a team full of proven leaders and that was evident in how masterfully the game was managed.
Between Robertson, McGregor, McGinn, Hanley, Porteous, Cooper and Shankland, seven of the 16 players Scotland used had longstanding experience of wearing the captain's armband for club or for country and that more than paid off as a comparatively inexperienced Spanish side were sent home with no real idea how or why they'd been outclassed by a team they may have expected to roll over.
You don't always have to hear the players to know exactly what they're saying but the animated message from Celtic skipper McGregor as Gunn shaped up for one second half goal kick was obviously "keep it going, it's not over yet."
Of course when you've got Grant Hanley and Ryan Porteous heading the ball 30 yards at every given opportunity, it makes seeing out that 2-0 lead just a little bit easier.
Respect and contempt
It's been a long time since a Scotland team faced up to a far superior nation and treated them like an equal. But on Tuesday night, Clarke's side the balance of respect and contempt just right.
They were happy to suffer without the ball for long spells, finishing the game with just 25 per cent possession, but McTominay and McGregor were no strangers to breaking rank at the first sniff of a turnover. There were handshakes at full-time between the players, but the sight of Porteous patting Spain players on the head summed the evening up nicely. They were well beaten and we made sure they knew it.
McTominay said after the game that Clarke had told him he needed to start smiling again and admitted that simple message has turned his game around. Clarke's response to that praise was simple: “I always believe that a happy footballer is a good footballer. And tonight, you could see we had 16 happy footballers on the pitch, and seven more happy footballers on the bench.”
He might have 23 footballers but after another night that could never have happened under one of his immediate predecessors, he's got the whole nation waking up this morning with grins on their faces. It will be four years come May and the trend is still firmly pointing upwards; let's just enjoy it while it lasts.
READ NEXT
