Scotland Men's Football Team

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Che Adams believes fans "were right" to show their dissatisfaction and frustration following Scotland's World Cup qualifying victory over Belarus on Sunday.

A small section of the Hampden crowd booed when the full-time whistle blew on a 2-1 win over Belarus after sub-par performance from Steve Clarke's side.

And there had been a similar reaction at half-time against Greece three days earlier after a goalless 45 minutes that were dominated by the visitors.

With head coach Clarke admitting Sunday's win left him "disappointed" and supporters unconvinced, Adams insists the team camp was positive while admitting they can "do better".

"I think they were right [to boo]. It was some poor decision-making, not concentrating in key moments of the game," said the Torino striker.

"We need to do better next time. At times it felt like we were pressing singly or not together as a unit. It's difficult to put a finger on anything specifically.

"But it was a positive camp. Six points all round. So we know how difficult it's going to be next camp but we need to stick together now and get things right.

"Everyone knows how important the two games are and how much we have to stick together.

"It's a long and difficult campaign to get to the World Cup, but we're two games away from achieving great things, so everyone's concentrating on that."

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Anthony Ralston is determined to focus on the positives as he and his team-mates leave the Scotland camp having secured six points from six in World Cup qualifying.

Steve Clarke's side were far from convincing in either victory against Greece and Belarus respectively, with the head coach admitting the latter left him as "disappointed" as he's been during his record-breaking 72 games in charge.

But while the Celtic right-back admitted everyone knows "we can do better" he wants to "look at the positives" which include Scotland being sure of a play-off place at worst.

"We had a chat and, as a collective, obviously we know we can do better, performance-wise," Ralston said.

"That's the negative out the way, the positives are that it's six points from the two games, we are a step closer to achieving our goal that we want to achieve. Going into next month we stand in a good position.

"We're all experienced in the dressing room now, we've all been in these positions at different points in our careers, where you know yourself when you come off the pitch as a collective, the performance wasn't there.

"It's easy, so soon after a game, you get caught up in what you could do better, you look at yourself, you look at the team, you look at everything.

"But we're two games off our goal, so we're not in a bad position. We'll build on that and we'll go from there."

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• Scotland are now unbeaten in 13 consecutive home World Cup qualifiers (excluding play-offs – W10 D3). Their last defeat was more than 12 years ago - 2-0 to Belgium in September 2013.

• Che Adams netted his first home goal for Scotland since scoring against Denmark in November 2021, ending a barren run of 12 games.

• Scotland have won back-to-back matches at Hampden for the first time since June 2023 (run of six consecutive victories). They have as many wins at home in their last two as they managed in their previous 10 (W2 D3 L5).

• John McGinn made his 81st appearance for Scotland, moving him level with Craig Gordon in joint-fourth on the all-time appearance list. Only Kenny Dalglish (102), Jim Leighton (91) and Andy Robertson (88) have more caps.

• None of Scotland's seven goals in qualifying have been scored or assisted by players based in Scotland. Players based in Italy's Serie A, have provided five goal involvements (Che Adams - Torino, 2 goals; Lewis Ferguson - Bologna, 1 goal; Scott McTominay - Napoli, 1 goal & 1 assist).

• Scotland conceded to a nation ranked 100th or lower in the world rankings for the first time since November 2019 against Kazakhstan, ending a run of eight straight clean sheets against such opposition.

We asked for your views on Scotland's unconvincing 2-1 victory over Belarus in front of a discontented Hampden crowd.

Here is what some of you said:

John: Very disappointing performance from Scotland. They looked nervous from the start. Three points in the bag, but there has to be a serious improvement in the next two games or I fear we are in for disappointment.

Brian: Six points from two games is what we wanted, although we played badly for most of those two matches. Zero creativity and very little pace or energy, and there's a nagging feeling that better teams would have trounced us. Anthony Ralston is a liability at the back and I don't understand what Steve Clarke sees in John Souttar either.

Grant: Frustrating watch, but we've been here before many times, played better and got nothing. We'll need performances to be a thousand times better to beat Greece and Denmark next month.

Alan: Better to have won and know we need to improve, than to lose and have to pick ourselves up. That said, the rigidity of the side was apparent. There was not enough confidence to push forward, but an outright refusal to adjust the system or personnel.

Brian: Big results, but expected more from Ben Gannon-Doak. He is a tremendous player who has still to reach his potential. He runs like a whippet with the ball only to find no-one there to assist him.

John: Soulless, heartless and tired. No cohesion and baffling tactics. Belarus outplayed Scotland in every department but couldn't shoot in front of the goal.

James: We got the three points and are guaranteed at least second in the group, but there were absolutely no other positives on a night that should have been a relative formality. But this is Scotland and, as usual, we conspire to make things unnecessarily difficult. The performance was laboured throughout, and the entire team looked lost and lacking confidence. Without a huge improvement we will have to ride our luck to get anything in Greece or against Denmark at Hampden other than two heavy defeats.

Mark: We really need a stronger defence and proven goalscorers. We are strong in the middle of the park but I think we need to play two up front to give the opposition defence more to worry about.

Manager Steve Clarke says he was speaking to Ben Gannon-Doak about his "final ball and pass selection" as Scotland headed in for half-time during the unconvincing win over Belarus. (The Herald)

Read the rest of Monday's gossip.

A laboured Scotland wheezed their way to the top of their World Cup qualifying group with two games remaining by edging out the world's 100th best national team, Belarus, in front of a discontented Hampden crowd.

Read the full match report here

Have your say on the game via this link

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Andy Robertson: "It doesn't feel good.

"We can be honest with that. It doesn't feel like a win at the minute and I think you can see that by our reaction at the end which is hugely frustrating. The performance is nowhere near where we need it to be.

"At the start of the week we would have taken the six points and we can look back in November at where we are [and be pleased with it] but currently walking off the pitch it doesn't feel good.

"We gave them far too many chances. I don't know if we were tired from Thursday night, we put a lot into that one, but that's no excuse.

"We weren't good on or off the ball, at times we did well. We could have, with slightly better decision making, had a couple more chances.

"It's a hugely frustrating night, we felt that in the stands, I didn't quite understand it on Thursday but I understand it tonight. We'll take that on board but come November we've got the chance to go to a World Cup and that's what we're focused on."

Scott McKenna: "The three points are absolutely massive.

"I think performance wise we let ourselves down tonight, the only positive we can take is that we scored two goals and managed to get three points.

"At half-time the manager came in but he was absolutely furious with us.

"We didn't win any first balls, didn't win any second balls either. Belarus probably looked more dangerous than us over the 90 minutes."

Scott McTominay: "We know every game from now until the end is so important.

"It's been good in terms of points picked up but we know we've got to be better than what we've shown, everybody does, me included.

"We've got to be at a higher standard than this. It's difficult to put into words how much I see in training and you see that in glimpses on the pitch.

"We know we've got such a great team spirit. The manager had every right not to be happy at half-time. We just want to repay him, he's such a fantastic manager and we want to get to a major tournament.

"We've got some spirit because when we went 1-0 down the other night [against Greece] we managed to come back. It's such a key aspect of a team like ours. Add a little bit of quality and we'll do well."

Ben Gannon-Doak: "We know what level we are and we know we can be much better than what we were tonight.

"Even though both games weren't the nicest to watch we've shown we can still win when we play that way.

"I did what the team wanted from me, I tried my best and I'm a bit disappointed I didn't contribute to a goal and put the game to bed a bit sooner but we've got the win and I did the defensive duties well I thought. Onto the next one.

"Belarus are good at what they're good at, they can make the game ugly and make you run but I think that's partly down to us because we weren't at the level we know we can be at. We can give some of the plaudits to them but a lot of it's down to us.

"We're not going to get carried away. We know what we need to do [in November]."

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Scotland head coach Steve Clarke: "Performances don't get you qualification. If you'd said at the start of this camp we'd come out with six points, everyone would've been really happy.

"But, I have to be honest, tonight I was really, really disappointed in my team. I don't think we got anywhere near the levels we can reach and that was really disappointing.

"I'm going to have to have a good look at the two games. The first game, we dug in when it wasn't going our way. Tonight, the game was far too open and we didn't control the game without the ball, and we weren't good enough with the ball. Both sides of the ball were wrong tonight."

"We've come out with the three points, so that's one small crumb of comfort but the rest of it is a bit of a headscratcher [as to] why we were so poor.

"We wanted to go and see the game out, and we put Lennon [Miller] and Kieron [Bowie] on to have a little feel for it. Ultimately, we shouldn't be conceding goals in injury time because that makes it even more disappointing.

"We gave away a goal that we shouldn't give away and we have to defend better."

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Scotland head coach Steve Clarke is hoping to right past "hurt" and qualify for the 2026 World Cup with the national side.

The 62-year-old narrowly missed out on the competition as a player back in 1990 and admits "it still hurts" knowing he never got to a World Cup with his country.

If Denmark beat Greece on Sunday, and Scotland can overcome Belarus, Clarke's men will be guaranteed at least a play-off place for a spot in the tournament next summer.

"Sunday's another step," the head coach said.

"And the closer you get to the end of the qualifying campaign if you're making positive steps, it just makes the next game bigger.

"Hopefully on Sunday night, we're smiling and thinking about November with two fantastic games to look forward to.

"You can see it in the performances. The players are determined to do everything they can to make sure we get to the finals. We've managed to do what we wanted to do so far, but we've still got three steps to take.

"I wanted to go as a player, but didn't managed to achieve it. I got pretty close in 1990 when I was in the pre-World Cup squad. That hurt and it still hurts a bit now that I haven't been to a World Cup with my country.

"I've got a chance to do it now. A fantastic group of players that want to be the first ones since 1998 to take their country to a World Cup. Hopefully it marries up and we can manage to achieve that."

With 38-year-old Kasper Schmeichel's contract remaining uncertain, Celtic are exploring the possibility of signing a new goalkeeper and Scotland's Angus Gunn is eager to join the Scottish champions after being pushed down the pecking order at Nottingham Forest. (Football Insider), external

Read Sunday's Scottish Gossip in full.

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When Billy Gilmour was a young boy in Ayrshire, he dreamed of playing for his country on the biggest stage.

He has represented Scotland at two European Championships and has won Serie A with Napoli, but the 24-year-old midfielder makes no secret that he would like to add a World Cup spot to that list and fulfil his childhood dream.

Scotland could guarantee themselves a World Cup play-off by Sunday night should they beat Belarus and Denmark beat Greece.

"When you're young you go down to the parks and you're playing cuppy dubs, cuppy singles, World Cuppy - it's every child's dream to play for their country and the biggest clubs," he said.

"Three games away and hopefully we can get it done. We've got a big game tomorrow so we need to focus on that first."

Gilmour started as a substitute against Greece on Thursday, but impressed off the bench as Scotland secured a vital 3-1 win.

He made it clear he wants to start against Belarus in a game he expects to look a lot different to this week's other qualifier.

"When I come off the bench I want to prove to him that [Steve Clarke] shouldn't leave me out," Gilmour said. "There's good players in our team competing for the same position. I need to try to stand out.

"I don't think I need to come on and make a point. It's more come on and help the team and show my qualities. Against Greece, it's difficult - they're a good team. You have to come on and do your job.

"We hope to be on the ball a lot more, on the front foot and win the game. Belarus are a good team. We'll need to be at it, make sure we're clinical and get the three points."