McTominay, McGinn and McLean all reaching significant milestones at the same time is proof of Scotland’s clear vision and progress, says Clarke

John McGinn will pick up his 75th senior Scotland cap against Greece. Scott McTominay will rack up his 60th. Even Kenny McLean, still seen in some quarters as something of a fringe man despite producing some hugely influential moments, is poised to be added to the SFA Roll of Honour by completing a half-century of appearances in dark blue.

For national coach Steve Clarke, whose captain Andy Robertson made his 80th outing for his country in last week’s 1-0 victory in Piraeus in the opening leg of the Nations League play-offs, seeing so many members of his squad reach these landmarks gives a special sense of satisfaction.

When he took over the Scotland job in May 2019, he set out to base the foundations of his reign on a core of players who would gain big-game experience over a raft of appearances and, slowly but surely, gain the streetwise qualities to be a success at international level.

There have been ups and downs along the way. The joy of making appearances at two major finals after a two-decade long drought almost too painful to recall was tempered by deeply disappointing displays when we got there.

Clarke also took on some tough friendlies against the likes of England, France and the Netherlands that delivered comprehensive losses in the build-up to Euro 2024 and very definitely seemed to dent confidence ahead of what was, quite frankly, a catastrophe of a tournament.

However, on a run of three straight wins against Croatia and Poland in the Nations League group stage and then the Greeks last Thursday, there are signs of a real head of steam being gathered ahead of the World Cup qualifying campaign later in the year.

Kenny McLean put some good defensive work in as the Scots look to win their League A spot

The experience he wanted now exists within the squad. There is a real club culture within the camp. The likes of McGinn, McTominay and McLean simply becoming the latest to hit significant milestones is, in his view, evidence that things continue to head in the right direction in spite of some of the speedbumps struck during his reign.

‘That was one of the things I set out to do early on in my reign as head coach,’ said the 61-year-old. ‘I wanted a core group of players who would be capped.

‘Then, when you go away to a difficult place like Greece, where not many teams win, we go there and win. The reason we give them cap after cap after cap is so, when we go to those places, they understand what they have to do.

‘Those three are just three of many with a good number of caps now.

‘We’ve been to France, we’ve played England, we’ve played Holland. I put them through the mill with those games, but, eventually, you get the experience.

‘So, when we went to Greece the other night, we knew what to expect and the players were able to handle that.

‘We have improved. If you look at the world rankings, it will tell you different.

‘That’s a little anomaly that seems to have popped up with the Nations League, but, as a team, we have improved and the players have improved at this level too.

McTominay was once again the goal hero for Scotland as his penalty gave the visitors the lead

McTominay and McGinn train at Lesser Hampden ahead of the second leg against the Greeks

‘We understand what it takes to win a game at this level. Thankfully, recently, we have been able to show we can do that.

‘It’s just experience. I said right at the very start, we didn’t have enough caps within the squad. It’s something we set about addressing and we’ve certainly done that.

“I think we had something like 550 caps in the team on Thursday night.

‘We want a culture here that when the players come here, they enjoy it. By and large, we have managed to do that.’

Clarke introduced some new faces to the mix for this double header in the form of Ipswich striker George Hirst and teenagers Lennon Miller of Motherwell and James Wilson of Hearts. For the younger players, in particular, the national coach believes the atmosphere he has been so particular in creating has helped them settle in with the minimum of fuss and begin preparing the next stage in the national team’s evolution.

Asked about the need to ask more established faces to look after the kids, he replied: ‘I don’t need to do that because they understand how difficult it is to come in here as a fresh young face. They have all been here many years and many caps ago.

‘They have been in this situation and are good at passing on the education to the younger players. The young boys have slotted in with no problem at all.’

Whilst the midfield area contains most of Scotland’s real stars, there has been strong encouragement for Clarke in recent defensive displays. In the last four games, he has used the same back four – Tony Ralston, Grant Hanley, John Souttar and Robertson – ahead of Craig Gordon.

Clarke oversees the final preparations ahead of the second leg of the Nations League play-off

Only one goal has been conceded. In Piraeus, Hanley and Souttar showed real signs of developing a strong partnership in central defence with a real backs-to-the-wall display in the second half.

‘Grant has all the experience in the world. Although he is not starting regularly for Birmingham, he knows how to train, he knows how to work, you saw the shape he’s in the other night,’ said Clarke.

‘They are both very intelligent central defenders. John obviously finished last season with a little injury issue and I left him out the Euros squad, but he has come back into the squad and he has shown me that he wants to be involved and be part of it.

‘He has grown into the role. Playing alongside Grant has been a big help for him, because Grant has that experience. Now, the two of them look like a very good combination and I hope that continues into the future.’

Clarke faces a big decision with Ryan Christie back from suspension for tonight’s game. Terrific with Bournemouth this season, he would seem a natural replacement for McLean in the starting XI, but it might not be as straightforward as that.

‘Listen, I’ve seen Ryan a couple of times for Bournemouth and people will tell you that he is playing a slightly deeper role,’ said Clarke. ‘But when you watch Bournemouth play, he is still the one who is leading the high press and is the one that gets after the game and gets forward to the edge of the box.

‘All they have done at Bournemouth is given him a nominal position, if you like, but he plays the same way Ryan plays. It does not matter where you play Ryan on the pitch, he brings energy and quality and that is what he always brings for us as well.’

Of course, despite McTominay’s winner from the spot last week, Greece will still provide a stiff challenge this evening.

‘I would imagine Greece will try to replicate their second half out there and try to put us under pressure,’ said Clarke. ‘Their away results in the group stage were impressive – winning in Dublin and at Wembley.

‘They will come and play their normal game. They are very good on counter-attack, as they were the other night.

‘They are a team who play very aggressive football. They are not interested in sitting in and defending. There were a couple of times the other night they had everyone in the box then their big goalkeeper catches it and he’s immediately thrown to put us under a counter attack, even the time he was a yard outside his box and we didn’t get a free kick for it, but there you go.’

Clarke is also keen to use tonight’s showdown to put some doubts into Greek minds before they face off again against his Scotland team in the World Cup qualifiers, which kick off in September.

Asked if winning this clash is likely to be of benefit psychologically, he said: ‘Yeah, it could be.

‘We’ve got a one-goal lead coming into the game, and for me, in my head, I want to win this tie and show them that Hampden is a difficult place to come.

‘Hopefully, it will be a difficult game for them and it is going to be difficult when they come back here in October.

‘It is a very important game. But we are going to set up to try to win the game. Hopefully, we can put a marker down for the World Cup games coming up.’