Clarke thrilled with Scotland's 'solid start'
Steve Clarke is delighted with Scotland's "solid start" to World Cup qualifying after it continued its unbeaten start with a 2-0 win over Belarus.
Scotland opened its qualifying campaign with a hard-earned 0-0 draw with Denmark before following that up with another morale-boosting result.
Behind closed doors at the ZTE-Arena in Hungary, Scotland took the lead at the end of the first half, with Scott McTominay setting up Che Adams for a near finish in the 43rd minute.
Billy Gilmour had struck the woodwork just moments before, and was also denied a goal in the second half as his header across goal hit Zakhar Volkov and flew into the net 65 minutes in.
The win leaves Scotland second in Group C on goal difference, boosting its hopes of qualifying for the 2026 World Cup.
Clarke was most pleased with a second consecutive clean sheet for his side, though he noted Scotland still has work to do
"It was a tough night. I expected the reaction Belarus gave," he said. "They started big guys and filled the middle of the park.
"We kept prodding, doing what we wanted to do. The message was just to stay patient, and we managed to do that.
"It's a good start, a solid start. Four points will never qualify you for anything. It's nice to go home with a smile on your face, but I'm already thinking about next month.
"Billy and Ben [Gannon-Doak] are two players who excite the public. My job is to pick a team to win the game. Both of them did very well.
"Clean sheets are what we have to build our campaign on."
Scotland has lost just one of its last 18 World Cup qualifiers (W12 D5), and has not kept a clean sheet in each of its last five such qualifiers.
Gilmour noted that there are positives to take from Scotland's September camp and is hopeful they can keep building on that in October.
"Hard night without the fans, but the whole team did well," he said. "It's good to play football - no one wants to sit on the bench, but we've got a good squad here.
"Even against Denmark, I thought we played really well. Two good performances this camp, and hopefully the next one's the same.
"We're all in good spirits. We knew how important it was to start well, and we've done that."
