Steve Clarke happy to keep Scotland momentum with Poland draw

Scotland boss Steve Clarke saw his side draw 1-1 with Poland at Hampden and said the performance had kept the team’s momentum going and confidence high.

The national team were on course for what would have been a seventh successive win after Kieran Tierney’s header had given them the lead but a questionable injury time penalty from Krzystof Piatek earned the visitors a draw.

Despite that late disappointment, Clarke found a lot to like in Scotland’s play and felt that they had shown their quality against an opponent 12 places higher in the world rankings.

“It was good,” Clarke said. “It was a good performance, there was a lot of good possession.

“We created some decent chances in the first half, maybe not so many in the second half, but a lot of good.

“It would have been much better sitting here saying 1-0, another clean sheet and seven wins in a row, but six wins and a draw keeps the unbeaten run going, keeps the momentum.”

The manager, who felt that Poland’s penalty was a soft decision and that Scotland should have had a spot kick when John McGinn was fouled when through on goal, said that VAR “would have straightened out both decisions” and said that his players’ reaction to the late spot kick showed their hunger for success.

“They wouldn’t let it go on the pitch,” he said. “Of course they are disappointed.

“We want to win. They are out there representing their country and on a good run, they want to make another little bit of history.

“Seven wins in a row would have been fantastic.

“We’ve got another game on Tuesday night in Vienna and they want to go there and get back on the winning run again.

“They’re disappointed not to win that game and I think they did enough and probably deserved to win. But we move on.”