Steve Clarke says previous Scotland teams who have fallen at the final qualifying hurdle should act as a warning in his side’s World Cup bid.

The Scots will play their final two Group F qualifying fixtures against Moldova and Denmark later this month, needing just one win to secure a play-off spot for next year’s finals in Qatar.

Clarke is aiming to qualify for a second successive tournament, having ended Scotland’s 23-year wait to play in a major finals by guiding them to last summer’s Euros.

Although Scotland’s fate is firmly in their own hands, Clarke insists they must finish off the job in style.

Clarke, who has named his 25-man squad for the double header, said: “As a manager you want to be involved in games that are meaningful. These two games are certainly meaningful in the context of qualification for a major tournament.

“Up until now it’s been a decent campaign but we have to make sure we finish it off properly. There’s always a little bit in the back of my mind that keeps saying, ‘Yeah, but we’re Scotland.’

“It’s always there. And we have to be mindful of the fact that we have had previous squads or other squads – various squads down the years – that have been in similar situations and have managed to trip themselves up.

“So we have to make sure it doesn’t happen to us.”

Georgia a painful reminder of pitfalls

Scotland will make the trip to Moldova for next Friday’s fixture bearing the weight of expectation, against a side ranked 181st in the world.

It is a similar scenario to the one encountered by the Scots under Gordon Strachan in 2015, when they were on course to reach the following summer’s Euros prior to a 1-0 loss away to Georgia.

Clarke added: “Andy Robertson has mentioned that one a couple of times. That’s probably the most recent one.

“We are mindful of the fact that we can still trip up. We are going to treat Moldova and Denmark with equal respect and try to get the points that we need, first and foremost to qualify. The second part is to get enough points to be seeded for the play-offs but the first is to qualify.

“We want to do that as soon as we can. Obviously we don’t know the points tally we’re going to need to secure second place but if we come out of Moldova with 20 points then we’ll be there. That means it’s in our own hands.”

Scotland’s points tally from their next two matches could determine whether or not they are seeded for the play-offs.

Clarke insists he is not looking any further than ensuring his side secure their place.

He added: “Since we lost to Denmark, for me every game has been a step on the road to Qatar. Every game has been a must win.

“We’ve won four in a row and now we need to make it five in Moldova. If we do that we’ll have a play-off secured and then we can approach the Danish game with a little bit of freedom and hopefully get something from that to give us a seeding as well.

“Every game is tough, they are all big games.”