NEXT LEVEL APPROACH

FOR a while it felt like an act of folly by Steve Clarke.

- SCOTT MCDERMOTT

Before we'd even got to the Euro 2024 dinals, hed lined up games against football's big guns - France, the Netherlands and England.

That was on top of taking on Spain, of course, in our qualifying group.

After flopping spectacularly in Germany last summer, you wondered whether the ploy had backfired big time on the Scotland manager.

How much psychological damage had heavy defeats in those friendlies done to his players?

The start of the Nations League campaign suggested there were shoots of recovery even if Scotland still couldn't buy a win.

But by the end of it?

Suddenly, we were unbeaten in three against Portugal, Croatia and Poland.

We now looked like a team capable of taking on Europe's best and not being flustered or fazed by it.

Those performances and results are what have given Clarke's team a chance to stay in the Nations League top tier.

If they can see off Greece at Hampden tonight it will continue his team’s progression and set them up perfectly for the 2026 World Cup qualifiers which kick-off in September.

If the performance in Piraeus is anything to go by, we shouldn't have anything to worry about.

It wasn't so much the 1-0 away victory.

It was the calmness, composure and confidence shown by Clarke’s players in such a hostile environment that offered real hope going forward.

And the national coach says the reason for that is our experience of taking on some of the best sides on the continent — however sore it might have been at the time.