A moment of splendid justification for Clarke after a summer to forget
But after the rude awakening of the Euros in Germany in June, came the realisation that Steve Clarke had sold us all a bit of a pup. Clarke promised he would be bold enough to trade blows with the big boys. And we believed. But we were left to squirm with embarrassment as he and his players got turfed out and lamented for being the most timid and toothless team in the competition.
It was everything we wanted from Clarke and his players and a stark contrast to what they served up on the big stage just a few weeks ago. And it was enough to win back a support that had no idea what it was going to get. With this relationship on the line, Clarke stuck so stubbornly to his guns that it almost took the breath away ahead of kick-off when his team sheet was delivered.
That would probably have been fine too had Clarke not ended up grimacing on the sidelines after eight minutes when the Poles smashed their way into an early lead with a long-range humdinger from Sebastian Szymanski. Scotland had actually started brightly, full of precise, pacy passes and with plenty of purpose too.
It was encouraging. It was everything Clarke would have been hoping for. But three minutes before the break Ralston, who had hardly put a foot wrong, got himself on the wrong side of Nicola Zalewski and in the ensuing tangle sent the Pole tumbling to the ground. They were doing a lot of that incidentally. But, as unjust as it seemed, the award of a penalty was the correct decision and when Robert Lewandowski grabbed the ball and placed it on the spot, the outcome was inevitable.
Scottish Premiership Steve Clarke Billy Gilmour Euro 2024
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