The Ben Doak Scotland one liner that lifted mood as John McGinn names 4 key traits that will get Tartan Army off seats

The pain of failure won’t ever leave John McGinn - he knows from experience. In fact Scotland’s talisman says anybody who claims football’s highs make the lows worthwhile is an out and out liar.

Indeed McGinn still questions what he could have done better to help avoid being relegated with St Mirren nine years ago. So just two months on from Scotland’s Euro 2024 flop the Aston Villa midfielder was never going to shy away from the gut-wrenching missed opportunity Steve Clarke’s side suffered in their bid to make big tournament history.

But as the squad reassembled for the first time since that Euros shocker yesterday McGinn insists it’s time to look forward and use the pain to propel us to a first World Cup in 28 years. He didn’t have to wait long for reason to be cheerful from a national perspective either ahead of Thursday’s opening Nations League clash with Poland.

One line from gallus Liverpool teen Ben Doak lifted the whole mood of the camp. And McGinn reckons the 18-year-old Middlesbrough loanee - who suffered his own Euros heartbreak before a ball was even kicked in Germany when injury ruled him out of the travelling party - is one of many reasons the Tartan Army CAN be positive about the future.

He said: “Aye, not just Ben’s ability but his character. He cheered me up last night. There was only five or six of us that arrived because a lot of the boys were travelling and played yesterday. We were touching on the Euros and he said, ‘aye, if I stayed fit it might have been different!’

“That's just his character and it's brilliant. He's got a lot of confidence, he's a good laugh and he's fitted in well. I think everyone's aware of his ability and he's certainly something different to what we've got. Hopefully we can