Scotland captain Andy Robertson admitted Scotland were on a “hiding to nothing” as they beat a makeshift Czech Republic 2-1 in the UEFA Nations League.
Scotland recovered from a early scare and the by-no-means vintage performance means they have taken four points from their first two games in this edition of the competition, following Friday’s similarly underwhelming 1-1 draw with Israel at Hampden.
The Czechs had been forced to replace their entire squad with domestic league players – only two of whom had been capped before – for the clash in Olomouc after a member of the original squad, who beat Slovakia 3-1 on Friday, tested positive for coronavirus.
After the game, Robertson said: “We probably were (on a hiding to nothing). That’s part and parcel of it.
“It was far from ideal for them, but it was far from ideal for us. Friday night, we’re coming out of a game thinking it’s cancelled, wondering if we’re getting home and stuff, Saturday is all uncertain and Sunday we had to focus on the game.
“I think we done that. We’ve dealt with the cards we’ve been given and got the three points in the end.
“People would have found negatives in whatever we’d done tonight. I’m not really bothered, as long as we got three points and we’re top of the group.
“That’s five unbeaten now, so let’s take some positives.”
It only took Steve Clarke’s Scots 11 minutes to suffer the psychological hammer blow of finding themselves behind to the rag-tag Czechs, with Jakub Pesek able beat the defensive line and finish into the left corner across David Marshall.
By 23 minutes, Scotland had started to find a bit of attacking fluidity, with Liam Palmer flashing a low ball across goal to Ryan Christie from the right. However, the former Aberdeen midfielder couldn’t steer the ball home from what was a tight angle.
Scotland were level soon after, when Palmer’s next low ball – from the right corner of the box – was met by a sliding Lyndon Dykes six yards out and he steered home his first Scotland goal on just his second national team appearance.
On 50 minutes Scotland were ahead after Tomas Malinsky hauled down Andy Robertson on the left of the Czech penalty area.
Christie stepped up to bury his second spot-kick in two games.
Ten minutes later, the home side could have been back level when Marek Havlik shaved Marshall’s left post with a close-range free-kick following a foul from Scott McTominay.
Marshall rescued Scotland on 68 minutes with a low save from Pesek after the defence switched off, and the Dark Blues were very fortunate Stanislav Tecl made a mess of his chance to equalise on the rebound, prodding the ball wide.
Scotland rode their luck significantly in the closing stages as they struggled to get out of their own half, but they escaped with the win. In a rare foray forward, Callum Paterson, on for injured Dykes, lashed across the face of the Czech goal.
The Scots’ next outing, on October 8, is their most important in years and they will hope to be much improved. They meet Israel at Hampden once more – the winner of the rearranged game will earn a play-off final place ahead of next year’s delayed European Championships.