Croatia v Scotland: Steve Clarke’s side lose again after late VAR drama

When Steve Clarke spoke about how “they keep coming, keep coming, keep coming” in Zagreb on Friday night, he was talking about how strong teams apply pressure right to the end. His phrase applied in other ways too, though. Games keep passing without a win for Scotland — now only one of them in 15 attempts — and so do formidable opponents. It’s Portugal next at Hampden on Tuesday.

Scotland are in a holding pattern of playing well in parts and competing with stronger teams, but ultimately losing to them. Promotion to Nations League Group A1 has been predictably sobering, with defeats by Poland, the Portuguese and now Croatia leaving them bottom and heading towards eventual relegation. The statistics seem inescapable: nine competitive games without