Steve Clarke is pleased with the “solid start” from Scotland to World Cup qualifying after they have continued their undefeated start with a 2-0 win over Belarus.
Scotland opened their qualifying campaign with a hard-earned 0-0 yellow game with Denmark before he follows it with another moral-increasing result.
Behind closed doors in the Zte-Aarena in Hungary, Scotland took the lead at the end of the first half, with Scott McTominay Che Adams set up for an almost finish in the 43rd minute.
Billy Gilmour had beaten the woodwork only a few moments earlier and was also refused a goal in the second half when his header touched Zakhar Volkov goal and flew in the net for 65 minutes.
The victory leaves Scotland second in group C on target difference, which stimulates their hope for qualifying for the World Cup 2026.
And Clarke was most satisfied with a second consecutive clean leadership, although he noticed that Scotland is still doing work.
“It was a tough night. I expected the reaction to gave Wit -Russia,” he said BBC Scotland. “They started big boys and filled the center of the park.
“We continued to poke, do what we wanted to do. The message was just to stay patient, and we managed to do that.
“It’s a good start, a solid start. Four points will never qualify for anything. It’s nice to go home with a smile on your face, but I am already thinking of next month.
‘Billy and Ben [Gannon-Doak] are two players who excite the audience. My job is to choose a team to win the game. Both did very well.
“Are clean sheets that we have to build our campaign.”
Scotland has now only lost one of their last 18 world cup qualifications (W12 D5) and has not kept a clean slate in each of their last five of such qualifications.
They also put white -russia under pressure on the other side, however, which means that 1.98 expected goals (XG) of their 14 shots and limited white -Russia are collected to just 0.33 xg.
Gilmour noted that there are positives to remove from the September camp from Scotland and it is hopeful that they can continue to build on it in October.
“Hard night without the fans, but the whole team did well,” Gilmour told BBC Scotland.
“It’s good to play football – nobody wants to sit on the couch, but we have a good team here.
“Even against Denmark I thought we played very well. Two good performance this camp, and hopefully the next one is the same.
“We are all cheerful. We knew how important it was to start well, and we did that.”
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