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

-Credit: (Image: SNS Group)
-Credit: (Image: SNS Group)


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.

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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.

"I don't think that one was a case of individual mistakes, it was just a case of the pressure being just a little bit too much at the end. On another day we could have maybe come away with a point or three.

"I think this camp was about getting back together, trying to build something a bit fresh. I know the starting team wasn't as fresh as people probably would have thought or envisioned but these boys are getting experience to come and try and help us. The players who came on were excellent again. I think the supporters wanted a reaction from the summer. There's no getting away from how disappointing it was. But I'm sure they will be proud of us.

"Even though it's another defeat, we are not proud of the run we are on, but performances like that will get us there in the end."

McGinn and his team-mates have now won just once in 14 matches, the victory coming against Gibraltar. The former St Mirren and Hibs star player is desperate to get back to winning ways when Scotland visit Croatia and host Portugal next month. "We don't want to be too positive in terms of it's another defeat," he said. "We know that. But we are coming into the top division on the back of our own success, getting ourselves here.

"This is where we want to compete. We want to stay in this division. We are going to come up against teams like Portugal, again obviously next month, but they knew they were in a game, they were definitely right up against it.

"We fought for every ball, we competed toe-to-toe with them at times and that's all Scotland fans want to see and that's all we want as team-mates. Obviously, after a disappointing summer for us, they don't want to hear 'they had a good time and it was a great experience'. We let them down. We know we can improve and do better and that game proved that.

"But no matter the scoreline, whether we won 6-0 or lost 6-0, the next Scotland away game they will be there and fully behind us. Hopefully they were proud of the performance and we appreciate their support."