GORDON STRACHAN has said that last night’s late 1-0 victory at Hampden against Slovakia was never in doubt.
Scotland sealed the result which elevated them into second thanks to an 89th minute Martin Skrtel own goal. When asked if he was feeling the heat on the touchline as the clock ticked down.
“At no time did it feel stressful. I could see they had everything under control.”
“It wasn’t a problem – apart from a couple of misplaced passes. They had a real belief in what they were trying to do and stayed above the anxiety of the crowd – a lot of people were getting anxious.”
It would be two substitutes of Strachan that would combine to give the Scots the edge as Anya, who replaced Tierney, crossed to find Martin, who replaced Forrest, before Skrtel bundled the ball into the net past the excellent Martin Dúbravka.
The 60-year-old was confident in his side and their ability to grind out a result, especially after the late goals against England and Slovenia.
“I genuinely felt we would score, no matter what the time was.
“There’s plenty of times I’ve felt like that and the goal hasn’t come, but I did feel it would with the work they put in, the way they tried to play.”
Reflecting on the four undefeated matches in a row this campaign, Strachan believed that the performances in the last few games have lead up to this victory.
“Slovenia was good, stuff against England was good, Lithuania was exceptional, Malta was workmanlike. So we’ve been building up to that performance.
“And the players deserve a result like that. Many times we’ve been sitting here with bad luck written all over it.”
Scotland now look towards Sunday for their crucial tie against Slovenia in a must-win clash for Strachan’s side.
