Steve Clarke: Scotland win in Armenia doesn't make up for Ukraine defeat

Steve Clarke believes Scotland’s win over Armenia puts the team in a better position in the Nations League but doesn’t make the international camp a success.

The national team played their last match of the season in Yerevan and bounced back from being a goal down to win 4-1 thanks to two goals from Stuart Armstrong and strikes from John McGinn and Che Adams.

It was the last match of an international camp that began with a World Cup play-off defeat to Ukraine. That was followed by a home win over Armenia before a 3-0 drubbing against Republic of Ireland in Dublin in the Nations League.

While Clarke was pleased by the response from his side, he said the camp couldn’t be looked on as a success overall.

“It was a difficult schedule for the players but we haven’t made excuses,” the Scotland manager said.

“There is no excuses for the two games we lost.

“Two wins against Armenia are not going to make this international camp a good camp because it wasn’t.

“We failed in our primary objective which was to get to the World Cup. We failed in that.”

Scotland now have six points from three Nations League games, with two matches against Ukraine and a home match against Ireland scheduled for September. Clarke said the victory put his side in a better position in a group that looks set to go to the wire, with a Euros play-off place and promotion to League A at stake.

“We had a really bad performance in Dublin which put us on the back foot again,” he said. “So it’s nice to bounce back tonight but there’s work to do.

“It was a game we wanted to win, it was a game we probably had to win, although not necessarily if you look at it mathematically.

“It puts us in a position where we can go to September and have a realistic chance of topping the group and that’s what we wanted.”