John McGinn reveals Clarke’s fury as Scotland edge Belarus to stay on track for World Cup 2026

John McGinn saw a “wild” side of Steve Clarke he had never witnessed before as Scotland laboured to victory over Belarus in the manager’s record-breaking 72nd game in charge.

The midfielder knows there is a clear need for improvement when Scotland take on Greece and Denmark next month in the culmination of their Group C campaign.

But McGinn feels Clarke is again showing he can get results as the Scotland boss bids to lead his country out of the World Cup wilderness.

Scotland moved another step closer to sealing a place in North America next summer as they consolidated their place in the top two of the group.

But it was a nervy night at Hampden before the hosts sealed a 2-1 win over a Belarus side that had shipped six goals against Denmark on Thursday.

Clarke set a new record as he overtook the tally of matches in charge set by Craig Brown, who was the last man to take Scotland to a World Cup in 1998.

“At half-time, and deservedly so, was the wildest I’ve seen him in 72 games,” McGinn said.

“But he’s been brilliant not just for me, but for the country and the group.

“I think he has a lot of games left in him yet. A huge milestone but he’s rightly angry.

“But he has again got us in a great position in a qualifying group. That can’t be forgotten.”

Clarke earned a round of applause from his players for his achievement when he returned to the dressing room after the match, but his mood was only slightly better.

“I think he was a bit more disappointed than angry,” McGinn said. “At half-time you have things to improve and work on.

“Was it a wee bit better in the second half? Probably not. We’re not naive enough to think that. But what we did do is get over the line.

“We know exactly what we need to do next month, two wins and we’re there.”

Scotland were ahead at half-time through a Che Adams strike but needed a VAR intervention to deny Belarus an equaliser after a foul on Scott McTominay, who doubled the lead in the 84th minute.

But there was a fraught final few minutes of stoppage time after Hleb Kuchko pulled a goal back.

McGinn described it as a “strange” encounter.

“Not a performance to shout about,” the Aston Villa captain added. “It’s important not to get carried away with such an important win, but a bit of reflection and realisation it wasn’t good enough. Far from our best.

“What we need to look at now as a team is where we can improve, but most importantly it was about getting the three points.

“We would have loved to have played a lot better. There’s times where we will. And next month if we’re not better we’ll get punished.

“We’re not stupid. As a team we’re not quite gelling. There’s things on the ball and off the ball.

“But what we have done is put ourselves in an unbelievable position.

“I think people can get excited, we can get excited. We’ve got a few weeks now for everyone to stay healthy and come back for two really important games next month which could put us down in history.”