Stuttering Scotland miss Gibraltar goal glut chance as Faro frustration raises Euro 2024 concern – 3 talking points

Ryan Christie and Che Adams ensured Scotland got their first win at the eighth attempt but it was far from convincing for Steve Clarke against minnows Gibraltar in the Algarve.

It was the second last chance for players to impress the national team gaffer in surroundings that will be a world away from their Euro 2024 opener against Germany in Munich. And near-empty Estadio Algarve in Faro might have played its part in the lacklustre display but Scotland failed to deliver the morale boosting performance or scoreline that this game was surely taken on for.

This was a chance to get a confidence-boosting result against a nation ranked 203rd in the world - who had conceded FOURTEEN goals to France last year - but in the end they only had Christie’s fine goal - his sixth in his 48th appearance - just short of the hour mark and a late strike from Adams to show for it, while an injury to Liam Cooper added to the concern.

It should have been so much more. Grant Hanley should have broken the deadlock early on only to send his free header from Andy Robertson’s corner over the crossbar. James Forrest then fired wide, again from Robertson’s ball, in search of his first goal for his country since a hat-trick against Israel in November 2018. The missed chances started to tot up as the Scots struggled to find the breakthrough, Kenny McLean sending a header over. Hanley’s header was then saved by Jaylan Hankins before the rebounded effort from Ryan Porteous was scrambled clear.

But it was Hanley who missed the best chance of the first half when the Norwich City man sent a close range effort wide of goal as Scotland finished the half with 17 shots, two on target - and no goals! It was a statistic that had to be improved to avoid