‘A real togetherness’: Scotland keep evolving with diversity of experience

T here seems to be an element of surprise to Scotland leading a European Championship qualifying group, but this should not be the case. They have beaten Spain and Norway as part of four victories in four matches to give themselves a great chance of spending next summer in Germany and it has nothing to do with luck.

Steve Clarke has completed four years as head coach and has a contract until 2026, bringing stability and giving him time to instil his philosophy into a team peaking at the right time. Throughout there is a level of quality that has been lacking in the national setup for a long time. There are usually one or two standout players but, finally, there is a group that would make it into most top-flight teams in Europe’s big five leagues.

Against Georgia on Tuesday, as in all of Scotland’s qualifiers, their most important players stood up to be counted. Liverpool’s Andy Robertson was awarded player of the match and Manchester United’s Scott McTominay scored the crucial second goal to ease the team to a 10th group-stage victory in a row in the rain and puddles.

While Georgia were in the changing rooms making the case to not play, Scotland were desperate to get back out on the Hampden Park pitch because they are full of confidence and did not want to lose the momentum they have built up during this campaign.

“We’ve shown everyone we have a real togetherness,” Billy Gilmour said. “We make sure we’re challenging each other every day in training. It’s clearly good for Scotland. There’s a buzz about the place.”

Diversity of experience is as important as camaraderie. Scotland are finding ways to beat everyone put in front of them thanks to the eclectic squad available to Clarke. They ground out a result against Spain,