Steve Clarke watched his side blow a two- goal lead here in Vienna last night – but then insisted Scotland ’s feel-good factor can carry them towards the World Cup.
Clarke insists the loss of two late goals against Austria has not derailed the momentum that has been building spectacularly over the last eight games.
And he insists the fact they remain unbeaten in six months has them riding high going into the end of season play-offs for a place at Qatar 2022.
The national boss said: “This is a difficult place to come to. If you had said before the game we would get two goals and a draw a lot of people would have said that would be okay.
“Don’t forget that I immediately made three substitutions at 2-0 up which lost that little bit of rhythm and continuity.
“You are allowed to use six subs because it is an international friendly game. And I wanted to use the full complement and wanted to give some players minutes on the pitch.
“It was a good exercise for us so I don’t understand why the feel-good factor would go.
“That’s eight games unbeaten going into a competitive phase in June. We are in a good place, don’t worry about that.
“There is always something you can find in a performance to improve on. Ball retention could have been a little bit better in the game.
“There were some decent moments in the first half especially on the counter-attack and another good goal from a set-play and a fantastic second goal.
“From a 2-0 position it’s always bit disappointing when you don’t see the game out with a win.
“But it’s a tough place to come. Austria were competitive, they wanted to give their manager a good send-off.
“We’ll take the draw and go eight unbeaten and we look forward to competitive games in June.”
Clarke’s men scored a scrappy opener through Jack Hendry and looked to have ridden out a Austrian storm to notch up a seventh win from eight games when John McGinn smashed them into a 2-0 lead 10 minutes into the second half.
Clarke beamed and said: “He knows how to arrive in the box, John. His timing is good. There was some fantastic play on the left-hand side with Kieran Tierney doing what he does from the left centre-back position, creating the overload and a good pick out and a good finish from John.”
But the heroic Craig Gordon was finally beaten in 74 minutes when sub Michael Gregoritsch pulled one back.
And then another replacement, Alessandro Schopf, smashed home an equaliser from outside the box to give the home side a deserved draw.
In fact, Gordon had to pull off another fine stop at the death to prevent Clarke’s side from tasting defeat for the first time in six months.
And the manager said: “He’s good, Craig. He’s a credit to himself. He’s very diligent he works hard in his training he’s still in fantastic shape and still has great reflexes.
“He’s done great for us since he got the chance to be the number one. He’s done really well and he made a number of really good saves tonight.
“It’s more comfortable because you know it’s not a competitive match.
“You don’t feel the competitive nerves. Obviously when your team is under the cosh a little bit you are looking for them to defend well.
“But after four months I’ve had the players for 10 days and we’ve got to know each other again and laid down the basic principles that we try to work off.
“I think they showed that in both games. Now we get to the competitive games in June on the back of an eight-game unbeaten run which is not a bad place to be.”
