Scotland captain Andy Robertson on target in Euro 2020 qualifier victory against Cyprus

Just one week after lifting the UEFA Champions League trophy for Liverpool, Andy Robertson captained Scotland to a crucial home win in Glasgow against Cyprus in their Euro 2020 qualifying match.

It was a nervy performance by Scotland, who were under pressure to get a result for Steve Clarke in his first match in charge after taking over from Alex McLeish, following a poor start in their Euro 2020 campaign. Back in March, Scotland lost embarrassingly away in Kazakhstan 3-0 and then only defeated the lowest ranked team in world football San Marino 2-0.

After an hour of fairly even play, Robertson sent an excellent shot from distance into the top left-hand corner of the net. This helped calm the nerves of the majority of the 31,277 fans inside Hampden. The Tartan Army Scottish fans responded by screaming “shoot” every time Robertson got the ball thereafter.  The fans also showed their support for their new manager by shouting “Steve Clarke’s Tartan Army”.

The happiness was silenced in the 86th minute when, out of nowhere, Cyprus scored with a header from Ioannis Kousoulos from a corner kick. Only three minutes later and the Scottish fans were celebrating once again when Oliver Burke scored from a rebound, his initial header struck the post.

The win for Scotland was even more important given that the other two strongest teams in the group, Belgium and Russia, both secured comfortable home victories. Belgium remain top of the group after a comfortable 3-0 in Brussels to Kazakhstan and Russia emphatically beat San Marino 9-0 at home in Saransk (one of the 11 World Cup venue cities last summer) earlier this afternoon.

After the match, Cyprus manager Ran Ben Simon had mixed emotions about the defeat. “You do not choose to lose but if there is a way to lose then this is it – being proud of the players and the performance.”

Scotland manager Steve Clarke was very positive after the match saying how much he enjoyed his first match in charge and was pleased to be able to “send the Tartan Army fans home with smiles on their faces”.

Up next for Scotland is an away match on Tuesday against Belgium who are ranked number one in the current FIFA world rankings. Clarke said “We can now go there with confidence and without the same pressure we had tonight”.

It would be a truly amazing start for Steve Clarke in his Scotland managerial career if he could follow up tonight’s home win against Cyprus with a positive result away in Brussels.