Scotland boss Steve Clarke has vowed to go on the attack against Austria to secure a major World Cup qualifier win.
The Scots have netted just twice in their previous five games despite rattling in 62 shots at goal.
Yet again Clarke’s side were wasteful in front of goal when edging to a 1-0 Group F defeat of minnows Moldova at Hampden.
Moldova sit a lowly 175th in the FIFA World rankings.
Scotland now face an Austria side reeling from a 5-2 defeat by Israel at the weekend.
Results on Saturday saw the Scots leap-frog the Austrians into third spot in Group F, two points behind second-placed Israel and seven behind leaders Denmark.
A win in Vienna will land a hammer blow to Austria’s Group F bid and deliver a huge boost to Scotland’s hopes of qualifying for Qatar.
He said: “Against Austria we will try to get out on the front foot, be positive and try to get the result we need.
“It will be a tough trip in Austria but we look forward to it.
“We had lots of chances in the game against Moldova and if you create you always have a chance of score.”
Eight Scots carrying knocks for Austria
Clarke will have to patch up his squad for the Austria trip with eight players suffering knocks and has a limited time frame to do so.
The national gaffer is confident skipper Andy Robertson, taken off after 73 minutes as a precautionary measure, will be fit to lead out the Scots out in Vienna.
Clarke is frustrated at the congested international fixture list with Scotland forced to play three World Cup qualifiers, two away from home, in just six days.
Clarke said: “We have about seven or eight players with knocks, I won’t go through them all – there’s too many.
“It’s a tight schedule, a poor schedule to be honest and the boys are tired.
“We will see who we have fit and available.
“They have two days recovery although we also have the flight out to Austria.
“We will just deal with it.”
Wasteful in front of goal in recent games
Scotland have netted just two goals from 62 attempts in their past five fixtures – with the goals coming against Moldova and Croatia (3-1 loss) at Euro 2020.
Against a Moldovan side that has now lost 15 consecutive away games the Scots had 16 shots, with seven on target.
Clarke has no concerns about the recent lack of goals because the Scots are creating opportunities. He wants them to convert them in Vienna.
💪 Lyndon Dykes opens the scoring at Hampden.#SCOMDA pic.twitter.com/Fj3zTAslZc
— Scotland National Team (@ScotlandNT) September 4, 2021
Clarke said: “By and large we do create chances.
“If you are not creating chances you are more worried than if you are creating chances and not scoring.
“Ryan Christie and Andy Robertson snatched at chances and Kieran Tierney had an unbelievable free header but put it down into the ground and didn’t quite have the right contact.
“We had lots of chances, and if you are creating them you always have the chance to score.
“Against Austria we will try to build on what we did against Moldova.
“It was important to play on the front foot against Moldova and I think we did that.”
Clarke praises teen Nathan Patterson
One of the positives from the defeat of Moldova was the performance of 19-year-old full-back Nathan Patterson.
Rangers’ defender Patterson impressed in the right wing-back role in his first senior international start.
The teen played a key role in the goal with his shot parried by the keeper into the path of Lyndon Dykes who netted.
Clarke said: “When you watch Nathan play for Rangers he is a good player.
“So when I put him the team, I knew what he would give us.
“He has good energy going forward and almost got his goal on his first start for his country which would have been great.
“Fortunately Dykesy was there to knock it over the line.
“Nathan gives you energy up and down the line, quality and is good on the ball.
“In the second half he tired a little but he showed a good maturity to sit and play his position.
“He can do both sides of the game., defend well and attack well.
“Nathan will be a big player for us going forward – in fact he’s a big player for us now.”
