Finally Scotland Don’t Do It The Scotland Way… And I Love It!

Date: 13th November 2021

Usually supporting Scotland comes with plenty of lows and when the highs come they usually come with last minute panic attacks! 

Yet Steve Clarke and his men have actually had a pretty great qualifying campaign and with a game to spare they’ve already managed to secure that all important play-off spot. 

Last night the team played with a confidence that we’ve seldom seen in the last twenty years, especially away from Hampden. 

We can often make away trips tricky, just think back to last month’s game against the Faroe Islands in Torshavn. 

Getting our first goal just before halftime was a real bonus but it was merited as we were creating some good chances and bossing the ball. 

The opening strike was a nice moment too as twenty year old Nathan Patterson produced a smart finish to grab his first international goal. The Rangers full-back was my man of the match, he really has made the right-back role his own. He has plenty of energy and gives us a better balance and an attacking outlet on the righthand side that is similar to the one that we have on the left. 

Che Adams had a tough night as he worked tirelessly up-top as our lone striker. His sheer endeavour was rewarded as he tapped home our second strike as John McGinn found Patterson with a nifty back-heel and who in turn picked out Adams with a fine ball across the penalty area. 

McGinn is a talismanic figure for this Scotland squad and he proved that once again last night in Moldova. He is such a game changer when given the freedom to push forward. He might not have scored last night but he came close towards the end and he played a big part in both our goals! 

It did get slightly nervy as the ref gave our opponents a spot kick for a Patterson handball. But Craig Gordon saved the resulting penalty and stalwart defender Kieran Tierney then superbly intervened stopping Moldova scoring from the rebound. 

It was plain sailing from there on in and we now have our precious play-off place.

Boss Clarke is still focused on getting a decent result against deserved group winners Denmark on Monday:

“We said we wanted to get to the November games being competitive, with a chance of qualifying for the World Cup, so we’re still on track for that.

“We recognise the Danes have been the best team in the group but with a full house at Hampden we have the chance to go there and hopefully do ourselves justice in what should be a cracker of a match.”

If we can grab that positive result then we should be seeded for a home play-off tie but when you look at the possible opponents (even the unseeded ones) you’ll see that we still have a very tough few games to get through before dreaming of next year’s World Cup. 

It’s just nice and bit odd that we have done something right and to have done it with a round of fixtures still to play. 

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