Serbia v Scotland: Good form 'a lot' down to David Marshall - Kenny McLean

Craig Gordon has returned to the Scotland squad to vie for a starting place with David Marshall

Scotland midfielder Kenny McLean suggests "a lot" of the national side's recent resurgence is down to goalkeeper David Marshall.

A wayward Marshall pass led to Barnsley's opening goal on Saturday as a 2-0 defeat sent Derby County to the bottom of the Championship in England.

But Norwich City's McLean thinks he will be crucial to Scotland's chances in their Euro 2020 play-off in Serbia.

"He's been excellent since he came back into the squad," he said.

"It really gives you that confidence at the back. If you build your foundations on a good defence, a good goalkeeper, clean sheets, which we've been getting, it gives the front players a chance to express themselves and that's what's been happening."

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Steve Clarke's side reached Thursday's final in Belgrade after a nerve-shredding penalty shootout win over Israel following a 0-0 draw at Hampden Park.

The 35-year-old Marshall has gone on to keep two more clean sheets as his side extended their unbeaten run to eight games, seven of them victories.

"When we look at the goalkeeper we've got, I was always confident when it came to penalties. The results we've been getting and the way we've been playing, a lot of that's down to Marshy I think," McLean said.

For those previous three games, Clarke was without several players because of Covid-19 infections, self-isolation or injury.

McLean thinks the return of those key players will be "massive" and a further boost to confidence as Scotland face a side sitting 15 places above them at 30 in the world rankings.

"You need to respect the quality they've got," he said of the hosts. "But, if you look at the way we have been performing as a unit, you have to be excited coming into these games.

"Of course there's a lot riding on the game, but you need to enjoy these moments because they don't come around very often. It'll be at the top end of what everybody's done in their career if we can get a result in this game.

"We've got a lot of players on very good form and in a good place right now and things just seem to be coming together and hopefully we can continue that into this week."