Scotland: Gordon Strachan hails 'team spirit' against Denmark

Scotland's team spirit helped them to victory against Denmark at Hampden, according to coach Gordon Strachan.

Matt Ritchie pounced on Daniel Agger's early mistake to score the winner, but the Danes spurned a host of opportunities to draw level.

"The better side were Denmark. We kept ourselves in it with a bit of grit and determination," said Strachan.

"Our team spirit kept us in it: good defending, good goalkeeping. I've got a couple of players coming through."

Following Thursday's win in Prague against the Czech Republic, Strachan once again made wholesale changes and gave debuts to Kieran Tierney, John McGinn and, from the bench, Oliver Burke against the Danes.

The Scotland manager was content with the result, if not the passing and physical prowess of his experimental side.

"If you look at the Danish players, they are all playing at a good level, physically playing every week," he said.

"If you look at our side, four or five guys don't even get a game. I wanted to make sure no-one played two games, so I sent them back to their club feeling decent about themselves.

Scotland debutant Kieran Tierney played the opening 45 minutes at Hampden

"We won two games of football, that's great. The other side of it, if you look at the physical side of Denmark compared to us, it was night and day.

"It was a heavyweight against a middleweight. We learn from that.

"Our team spirit kept us in it, good defending, good goalkeeping, we had a couple of chances in the second half, but they were the better side because basically they are at the top of their game."

Strachan expressed surprise at the strength of the side picked by Denmark head coach Age Hareide on a night when Scotland captain Scott Brown earned his 50th cap.

"It was a gamble we took, although saying that I didn't expect them to play such a strong side for their second game and you could see they had played together," added the Scotland coach.

"They should've gone to the European Championship [finals]. They would be a good side there, so the result was good."