Steve Clarke insists Scotland remain in positive mood despite England defeat
Scotland manager Steve Clarke remains upbeat (Jane Barlow/PA)
Steve Clarke stressed Scotland’s feelgood factor should remain fully intact despite a 3-1 Hampden Park defeat to England.
The chance of a double celebration lay in store for the Tartan Army but a chastening evening against their rivals saw many supporters drift out before full-time, as Norway’s 2-1 win against Georgia denied them an early qualification for next summer’s Euro 2024 finals in Germany.
Victory against Spain in Seville on October 12 would be enough to top Group A and even defeat would leave a significant chance for Scotland to qualify next month as something will need to give when Norway face the Spaniards three days later.
When asked how he would go about making sure the 150th anniversary defeat did not dent the feelgood factor, Clarke said: “It hasn’t gone. In the competitive group we are in – five wins, 15 points.
“I told the lads the camp has been a success. The most important thing in this camp was to get three points in Cyprus. We achieved that.
“It would have been nice to get a positive result against England to make it even better but the objective of what we came in to do has been done.
“Obviously we didn’t want to lose to our Auld Enemy but on the night England were better.
“Sometimes you need to take your medicine in football and we will take our medicine and try to improve.
“We knew playing against England was going to be difficult, playing Spain away is going to be difficult, playing France away is going to be difficult.
“But if you want to learn as a team you have to play against good opposition so we have to go away and learn the lessons and try to be better.
“This group have always shown they are pretty good in a little bit of
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