John McGinn hears pride and anger from Scotland diehards as he promises suffering Tartan Army 'we'll get there'

John McGinn reassured fans Scotland aren't deluding themselves into thinking everything is rosey amid their horror run of results. But he's adamant they WILL get there if they turn in more performances like Portugal and Poland.

Steve Clarke's team turned up well for the most part during the September international break but late sickeners from Nicolas Zalewski and Cristiano Ronaldo sent them home empty handed from their first two Nations League games. They battled back from two goals down against the Poles only to concede a needless late penalty, and led Portugal for the majority of the game in Lisbon before their second half fight-back.

It means the Tartan Army have seen just one win in their last 14 games - a friendly success over Gibraltar - and discontent is starting to boil over with questions raised over Clarke's position. McGinn's own performances have been a concern and he's the first to admit his own mistakes have been a contributing factor. But he believes his team will get there if they keep playing like they did in Lisbon.

He told the Scotland social media channels: "Obviously a sickener at the end but much more like us in terms of level of performance, desire, commitment. I don't think many people gave us a chance of getting anything from the game and the way we competed for 90-plus minutes was brilliant. We were up against a top-class team.

"Once we conceded the first goal it would have been easy for us to crumble and go under. After a wobbly two or three minutes, we managed to get our foot on the ball, create some chances and put them on the back foot. So we have learned a lot over these two games. I think individual mistakes in the first game, including my own, cost us after a good performance really.

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