They’re good enough; they’re also Scotland

It turns out that pinning all of our hopes on Scotland wasn’t such a bad idea after all. On Wednesday night at Hampden, Steve Clarke’s men went at Ukraine with the sort of verve and velocity not seen since the days of peak Klopp-era Liverpool, a side you kids may want to ask your parents about. Older readers may also remember when Jim Baxter juggled the ball and seven pints of heavy on the Wembley touchline in 1967, which The Fiver reckons is the last time Scotland played with such assurance, bordering on arrogance, against an extremely good team. Penny for the thoughts of absent captain Andrew Robertson, who is now only the fourth best full-back in the country, behind Kieran Tierney, Aaron Hickey and Nathan Patterson. Oh Andy, it was good while it lasted.

A great night for the Scots, then, although scholars of the game will point out that, 41 seconds after Baxter’s iconic game of keepy-uppy, supposedly humiliated world champions England went straight up the other end and scored. The man who put the ball in the net was Jack Charlton, limping around at the time on one functioning leg. All of which illustrates the fact that Scotland, through the years, have struggled somewhat with consistency. That should focus minds for Saturday’s visit of the Republic O’Ireland and next week’s return fixture against Ukraine, to be played on neutral Polish soil. Two draws will be enough to secure top spot in Group B1 and a guaranteed place in the Euro 2024 playoffs. Clarke’s team just need to keep a level head. This really isn’t beyond them.

“We’ve got one to give to [O’Ireland] as well!” battle-cried Lyndon Dykes, high on life after scoring twice. “We wanted to prove everyone wrong. This is going to give us massive confidence!” It was a