Scotland 1 Switzerland 1: Clarke’s side battle to keep Euro 2024 hopes alive

SKIPPER Andy Robertson hailed Scotland’s response to their first-game thrashing and said: “That was more like us.”

Steve Clarke’s side needed a huge performance to stay in the tournament after a 5-1 thrashing at the hands of Germany last week.

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And Robertson was delighted with the character he and his team-mates showed as they grabbed a draw and breathed some life into their Group A chances.

He said: “It was much more like us. Aggressive and on the front foot.

“We got off to a better start. They had their chances but so did we and it was an open game.

“We are a lot more happy with that and we could have scored. But we’ll take the draw and we take it to the last game which is all we could ask for.”

Scott McTominay’s deflected 13th-minute strike may have been cancelled out by a wonder goal from Xherdan Shaquiri after a bad mistake from Tony Ralston.

Robertson added: “We made a mistake. But Tony Ralston was unbelievable after the mistake.

“It was a difficult one for him but fair play to him for recovering.”

This was a result and performance that gives the Scots a fighting chance of making it into the last 16 ahead of Sunday’s final group game with Hungary.

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It could have ended better, it could have been worse.

But by the final whistle there wasn’t a Scotland supporter here or at home who could have asked for any more.

Clarke is too stubborn to admit he got his line-up for the Germany game wrong.

But picking Billy Gilmour for this one could be construed as an admission of guilt.

Other than the forced change which saw Grant Hanley replace suspended Ryan Porteous, that was it.

Clarke kept faith with the nine other players who played so miserably in Munich.

Each and every one of them owed their manager for giving them a second chance.

Just as they were in debt to the travelling Tartan Army and the millions more watching back home.

Another half-hearted performance simply couldn’t be tolerated. To a man, they knew it.

If they had any fear before kick-off, they left to behind in the changing room before they walked out.

Because the way they started this game was night and day from last Friday night.

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They deserved to go ahead after 13 minutes with the goal giving the travelling fans the moment they’d been waiting for.

Sure, they saw their team hit the net in the Germany defeat.

But the wild scenes of celebration when McTominay scored meant something so, so much more.

The deflection off defender Fabian Schar helped it in on its way, of course it did.

Chances are, Swiss goalkeeper Yann Sommer would have saved the shot from the Manchester United midfielder.

But the build-up which saw Scotland break with so much purpose deserved that slice of luck.

Gilmour’s touch at the beginning of the move was crucial.

A split-second example of how he sees things differently from the vast majority of his team-mates. And has the technical ability to play the pass he envisages.

The run from Andy Robertson saw him charge into the box before sliding a pass to Callum McGregor who also bust a gut get forward in support.

Again, something that just didn’t happen in the first group game.

For a moment it looked like the Celtic skipper had taken the momentum out of the attack when he chopped back onto his left foot.

But when he played a cut-back for McTominay, he did the rest.
The Swiss looked stunned.

But they were to have their moment in the first-half to make it 1-1 in 26 minutes.

Ralston will have had a sleepless night thinking about it.

Over and over again, it must have churned around in his mind as he lay staring at the ceiling.

And you can bet he still won’t be able to come up with an answer on what the hell he was doing.

He wasn’t looking when he attempted to play a pass inside to centre-back Grant Hanley who had absolutely no idea the danger that was lurking.

But still. No-one could legislate for the finish from Shaquiri.

It was simply out of this world.

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If Angus Gunn didn’t cover himself in any glory at the Germany opener, here he was utterly blameless.

The star of Switzerland had the precision of a Swiss-made watch as he found the top corner with inches to spare.

It was just so galling from a Scotland point of view. Such a needless goal to concede.

Clarke would have been forgiven for substituting Ralston there and then, the Celtic squad player clearly rattled by the costly lapse in concentration.

Jack Hendry ran across to slap him on the back in a much needed show of support.

But for the next ten minutes Ralston had to dig deep into his reserves of resilience just to stop himself from crumbling completely.

Switzerland could have taken the lead before the break

The had the ball in the Scotland net with a VAR check ruling out a strike from Dan Ndoye for off-side. Replays showed it couldn’t have been any closer.

Scotland came out for the second half with renewed energy.

The loss of Kieran Tierney after an hour – when he had to be carted off by stretcher with a hamstring injury – was a major blow.

You sometimes feel that if he former Celtic defender didn’t have bad luck he wouldn’t have any luck at all.

It was at that moment the Swiss passed up a brilliant chance to take the lead.

In 67 minutes came the ‘what if’ moment for Scotland.

From a Robertson free-kick, Hanley’s thumped a header off the post which could easily gone into the net.

But it wasn’t to be.

Thankfully, too, neither was the cool finish from Swiss sub Breel Embolo in 82 minutes with a late off-side flag rightly going up after he clipped past Gunn.

In the end, though, a draw was enough to keep Scotland’s group hopes alive.

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