No overthinking Nations League table as Craig Gordon eyes another Scotland win

Scotland goalkeeper Craig Gordon just wants to taste victory again rather than overly concern himself with an unlikely passage to the UEFA Nations League quarter-finals after finally experiencing an international win again.

Steve Clarke’s side ended a 14-month wait for a competitive victory – a run which lasted 10 games – before John McGinn’s 86th-minute goal earned a 1-0 success over Croatia on Friday night.

The result was not enough to move Scotland off the bottom of section A1 but victory against Poland in Warsaw on Monday would ensure they avoid automatic relegation to league B.

They could even sneak into second spot – which would bring with it a place in the last eight and pot one of the World Cup qualifying draw – if Croatia lose against Portugal and there is a three-goal swing between Clarke’s side and their beaten opponents on Friday.

Having waited so long for a Scotland win, Gordon will not overthink things ahead of the game in Warsaw.

The 41-year-old’s previous international victory was against the Republic of Ireland in September 2022, having conceded two goals in a draw with Finland in June in what was expected to be his farewell appearance.

After reclaiming his place in the squad and now the team, the Hearts goalkeeper just wants to get another win without going into the consequences.

“We just need to keep winning matches, now that we’ve got that first one, to try and back that up now,” he said. “And then we’ll see where that takes us.

“Everybody will be talking about all the permutations that are possible going into this last game, but for us it’s about going there and trying to win.”

Gordon kept a clean sheet against Portugal last month to earn Scotland their first point of the campaign following three narrow defeats, which came with some last-gasp disappointments in each.

“It was actually quite calm in the dressing room afterwards,” he said. “We do feel as if we’ve been building towards this.

“Our performances have been of a good enough level to win matches and we’ve just not managed to do that. It was nice to get one in the bag and now we can push on and try and improve and get another one.”

Croatia had the better chances – despite playing with 10 men for half the game – before McGinn knocked home from 12 yards after positive play from Ben Doak.

Gordon’s honest assessment was it was “probably not one of the better performances”.

“We didn’t hit the heights of the performances that we have done in some of the defeats,” he said. “But we’ve got to win and that was the most important thing. We’ve come so close.

“We had a lot of luck that we maybe haven’t had in the last number of games and we’ve managed to see it through and eventually get the win.”

Scotland were better after the sending off of Petar Sucic without really dominating, but Gordon explained they were wary of potentially throwing away the chance to get off the bottom.

He said: “With the way the group was situated, it was important we didn’t lose so it was going to get to that point where (you think), how much do you really throw at it? Did we go for it and perhaps lose something at the other end?

“But we also needed a point to make sure that we’re in a good position in the next game.

“So there were those sort of things in the back of everybody’s mind as well and it was nice to see that one hit the back of the net and finally get the three points.”