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How Steve Clarke's first Scotland team lined up as boss comes full circle against Cyprus at Hampden

It’s almost four years since Steve Clarke took charge of Scotland for the first time.

As he embarks on the latest qualification campaign this weekend with a place at Euro 2024 in Germany up for grabs, Cyprus again provide the opposition at Hampden. Clarke had been appointed on the back of a seriously impressive job at Kilmarnock, guiding them into Europe. The hope was that he could do the same with the national team for Euro 2020 after two decades away from the top table.

We had to wait a year thanks to Covid, but Clarke managed it, sealing our place at a first a major tournament in over two decades thanks to a dramatic penalty shoot-out win over Serbia in Belgrade. Attempts to follow that up with a World Cup return fell short, but now we go again with Spain and Norway our biggest obstacles on paper in a group that could have been worse, but still represents a tricky challenge.

A win on Saturday at a packed National Stadium is a must before the Spanish come calling next week. Under Clarke, Scotland have more often than not beaten the teams we are expected to, although a big, unexpected result that really helps tip the qualification odds in your favour is yet to be ticked off.

But getting the first three points on the board is the priority for now. Scotland left it late on Clarke's debut, having to recover after Andy Robertson’s opener was cancelled out just three minutes from time by Ionnis Kousoulos. However, Oli Burke’s stoppage time winner meant it was a successful start for the new boss.

Hopefully it's a bit more straightforward this time. It’s fair to say the team and squad is stronger now, which is highlighted when you look back at how Scotland lined up that day. There are still familiar faces heavily involved, but

Read more on dailyrecord.co.uk