GIVEN the years – nay, decades – of suffering that had been dished up to the Tartan Army prior to the arrival of Steve Clarke as national team head coach, it is little wonder that they can now get carried away on occasion.
When Scotland swept aside Cyprus away from home back in early September, for instance, the ease of the victory – their fifth from five in the section - that ultimately was enough to seal qualification for the European Championships had fans believing something special could be happening next summer.
And despite the bruising defeats that have followed to England, Spain and France, it still might. But what those matches served to underline to Clarke was something that the famously pragmatic coach knew all along; that this Scotland team is far from the finished article.
Still, it is a far more rounded, more polished and accomplished iteration of the national side than has been seen for many a year, and while the Scots will travel to Tbilisi to take on Georgia tonight some way short of their current full strength, Clarke is certain that the collective group will only be stronger for the experiences of the last few matches.
“The idea with the friendly matches against England and France was to test ourselves against the best and see where we measure up,” Clarke said.
“Obviously with the results we had, we still have a bit of work to do. We will try to stay humble, respect our opponents and just try to improve all the time.
“Listen, we want to get back to winning ways. It’s not very often in the reign that I have had, apart from the early stages, that we have had consecutive defeats like we have had recently.
“It would be nice to think in the remaining two games we can pick up more points. I have always said we want to get as high a points tally as possible and [we have] two more games to try and do that.”
The very sight of ‘Georgia away’ on the fixture list had the Tartan Army breaking out in a cold sweat at the outset of this campaign, with past history there marking the game out as one where Scottish dreams could well be dashed once more.
Thankfully, there are no such worries for the Scots this time around as they swan serenely into town knowing that qualification has already been secured. But it would be nice, all the same, to put some of those nightmares to bed with a first win on a third Scottish visit to Georgian soil.
“Listen, in sport what’s past is past, there is nothing we can do to affect that,” Clarke said.
“All we can do is affect the future, the next game we play. We have always tried to improve results no matter who we are playing against.”
Georgia lost 7-1 at home to Spain in September but they beat Cyprus 4-0 in their most recent qualifier and are assured of a Euro 2024 play-off place thanks to a Nations League campaign which included big wins in Bulgaria and North Macedonia.
Clarke therefore arrives here under no illusions about the task that lies ahead of his injury-ravaged team.
“When you go away from home against a team like Georgia, it’s going to be a difficult environment, a difficult game for us, because they are a very good side,” he said.
“The one game they lost heavily was against Spain and that’s a little bit of an anomaly in recent games, because all their games have been very competitive. And we expect that on Thursday night.”
Clarke is without the likes of Angus Gunn, Andy Robertson, Kieran Tierney, Aaron Hickey and Che Adams, but he hopes players such as Josh Doig and Lawrence Shankland can seize the opportunity that injury list presents.
“Over the course of my tenure I have always tried to look a little bit deeper,” he said.
“There will be some squads like this one where we have a number of players missing. But I always say it’s a chance for someone else.
“If everyone else can do better it makes my selection more difficult going into next year. The selection will be difficult. I have to find the right 23 for next summer.
“For now, some boys are in the squad with the chance to make a big impression, not just on me but the rest of my staff and the rest of the country. Let’s see how they perform in the game.”
Hearts goalkeeper Zander Clark and Motherwell captain Liam Kelly are vying for competitive debuts after both played 45 minutes against France to win their first caps.
Clarke, who also has Rangers reserve Robby McCrorie in his squad, was not giving anything away on his stand-in choice.
Speaking from Scotland’s training camp in Antalya, Turkey, he said: “The three goalkeepers have trained very well, as they always do, and between now and kick-off I will obviously have to choose one.”
