sport news Scotland boss Clark delighted with Armenia victory but admits it can't make up ... trends now
Steve Clarke praised Scotland for bouncing back with a 4-1 win over nine-man Armenia but admitted World Cup elimination had rendered their four match international camp a failure.
The national team boss was under pressure after a dismal 3-0 defeat to Ireland on Saturday, hot on the heels of the deserved 3-1 Qatar 2022 play-off semi final loss to Ukraine at Hampden.
But after Armenia capitalised on poor Scotland defending to race into a sixth minute lead courtesy of Vahan Bichakhchyan, two goals from Stuart Armstrong had the visitors in the lead either side of a red card for Arman Hovhannisyan.
Steve Clarke praised Scotland for bouncing back with a 4-1 win over nine-man Armenia
Further second half strikes from John McGinn and Che Adams secured a comfortable victory in this must-win match before Kano Hovhannisyan also saw red for the ill-tempered hosts.
Clarke was delighted to have Scotland’s fate in Nations League Group B1 still in their own hands after home and away victories over Armenia but admitted it could not make up for the Ukraine disappointment.
The Scotland boss said: ‘Two wins against Armenia are not going to make this international camp a good camp, because it wasn't.
‘We failed on our primary objective — to get to the World Cup.
Stuart Armstrong (right) scored two goals in the first-half to put Scotland 2-1 up at the break
‘We failed on that and we had a really bad performance in Dublin, which put us on the back foot again.
‘It's nice to bounce back but there is work to do.
‘It was a game we wanted to win — and a game we probably had to win — although not necessarily mathematically.
‘It gives us the chance to go into the remaining Nations League games in September with a realistic chance of topping the group. That’s what we wanted.’
Scotland started slowly against an Armenian onslaught and Clarke cited fatigue amongst his players at the end of a
