A share of the spoils in Köln on Wednesday allowed Scotland to pick up the first point of their EURO2024 campaign, after falling to a 5-1 drubbing against Germany in the tournament opener last Friday.
A hefty deflection off Fabian Schär ensured Scott McTominay handed the Tartan Army the lead on the night, but parity was soon restored in North Rhine-Westphalia when Xherdan Shaqiri capitalised on a mistake from Anthony Ralston.
Steve Clarke’s men are left needing three points against Hungary if they’re to stand any chance of progressing, but the 60-year-old accepted that his side knew that their final two group stage games would prove decisive.
“The reality is that when the draw was made and we were drawn against the host nation in the opening game, we were looking at the second two games in the group and thinking that’s where the points are going to come from,” he told reporters in his post-match press conference.
“Everyone was trying to overhype the fact we had to get something tonight, but the reality is that even if we’d played well against Germany, we’d probably have been in the same position.”
Clarke expressed content with Scotland’s performance on Wednesday, hailing it as “a good reaction to a disappointing night.”
“Tonight was just about getting back to what we’re good at: working hard and making sure we’ve got the preparations right. I think we did that,” he explained, going onto add that “it was a good team performance against a good opponent.”
Scotland will wrap up their EURO2024 group stage campaign on Sunday, when they head to Stuttgart to face Hungary. Full coverage of that match, and every other EURO2024 clash, can be found right here on FromTheSpot.