Lewis Ferguson says Scotland ‘shouldn’t panic’ after Iceland defeat

Scotland midfielder Lewis Ferguson stressed there was no need to panic after Friday’s defeat by Iceland – but he admits they need a win in Liechtenstein to restore some confidence.

Scotland travelled to Vaduz after a 3-1 Hampden loss, which left them with only one win in their last nine home matches.

Losing goalkeeper Angus Gunn in the early stages did not help matters, but Steve Clarke’s side struggled to find a rhythm to their attacking play and did not look like overhauling their two-goal deficit.

Scotland’s form picked up in the latter half of their UEFA Nations League campaign after a difficult 12 months but a 3-0 play-off home defeat by Greece in March consigned them to relegation to League B.

Fans are now looking for something to encourage them ahead of the World Cup qualifying campaign in the autumn, with Scotland up against Denmark, Greece and Belarus for a place in North America next summer.

Liechtenstein have started their qualification campaign with three defeats without netting a goal, the latest a 3-0 loss against Wales.

There are only three professionals in their squad and they are ranked 205th in the world, and were on the end of San Marino’s first win for 20 years in November.

But Scotland laboured to a 1-0 win on their previous trip to Vaduz and Ferguson stressed a big performance was needed on Monday night.

“We need to win our next game,” the Bologna midfielder said. “We need to go and put on a performance, a good performance and a winning performance.

“That’s the only thing that breeds confidence, winning games, so we need to get back to that.

“There shouldn’t be any panic. We’ve got a really strong squad, good players, good quality, loads of experience in the team, so there should be no panic.

“But we do need to get back to winning ways and get back to performing at the levels that we’ve set ourselves.”

Other than injured goalkeepers Gunn and Robby McCrorie, who withdrew over the weekend, Clarke has not had any call-offs since naming his squad, despite the obvious difficulty for some players to maintain sharpness after a long season with their clubs.

Ferguson stressed the timing of the double header should not be a major issue in finding a performance.

He said: “It’s our job, we’re here to go and perform, we’re here to play for our country. It’s a privilege, so that shouldn’t be a problem. And I don’t think that’s a problem with this squad.”