John McGinn reveals his Scotland squeegee was turned down on 'mental' night of rain and Georgian tantrums

John McGinn was so desperate to keep our Euro 2024 dream walking on water he volunteered to go out and help ground staff clear the waterlogged Hampden pitch.

Steve Clarke’s Scotland side are now at the top of qualifying Group A with four wins out of four, after they eventually saw off Georgia and the pitfalls of the Scottish summer on Tuesday night. An evening downpour saw the showdown thrown into chaos after Callum McGregor had put the Scots ahead in six minutes. Then the action was put on hold because of the excessive surface water.

There were a number of delays to give the ground staff and ball boys chances to get the water off the pitch, with an army of squeegees and brushes deployed. McGinn and his team-mates were left frustrated in the Hampden dressing room and the Aston Villa star even asked to go and out and assist them. Thankfully, Clarke’s men were able to reward those who cleared the pitch when the action finally resumed, with Scott McTominay scoring a second goal to clinch a record-breaking fourth-straight qualifying win. Scotland midfielder McGinn said: “The groundstaff and everyone involved did an amazing job clearing the pitch.

“It hadn’t rained for about two weeks and I don’t think anyone was expecting the downpour. I don’t know if it should have been able to handle that amount of rain, I’m not an expert. But they all did an incredible job. I was wanting to give them a hand but we weren’t allowed.

“It might have helped because it was painful to watch but I was told it might tire me out. Fair play to them.”

The 28-year-old was amazed Hungarian referee Istvan Vad even kicked off the game. The ball wasn’t running, water was splashing everywhere and players were finding it almost impossible to change