Scotland will board their flight to the United States tomorrow with the applause and cheers of the Tartan Army still ringing in their ears after winning their first friendly at Hampden in 10 years in their opening World Cup warm-up match this afternoon.
The national team gave their supporters a slight scare by allowing their Caribbean minnow opponents Curacao, the smallest country to ever qualify for the finals both by population and size, to go in front during the first half.
But Steve Clarke’s side, who last won a meaningless game in Mount Florida against Denmark back in 2016, fought back to overcome Dick Advocaat’s team, who were reduced to 10 men in the first half when Jurgen Locadia was red carded, by a comfortable 4-1 scoreline.
Findlay Curtis, the young Rangers winger who has impressed during a loan spell at Kilmarnock in recent months, equalised before half-time and Lawrence Shankland, his new Ibrox club mate, made sure of the victory with a second half double.
Ryan Christie added a fourth from the penalty spot in the closing stages after Curtis had been tripped by Jurien Gaari to round off a thoroughly satisfactory afternoon for Scotland.
Here are five talking points from the send-off match.
Back to the future
Football traditionalists among the Scotland support were delighted when the starting line-up was released around an hour before kick-off; Clarke had switched to a 4-4-2 formation and put George Hirst and Shankland up front.
Having drawn a blank in the March friendlies with both Japan in Glasgow and Ivory Coast at the Hill Dickinson Stadium in Liverpool, he was clearly keen for his boys to get in amongst the goals.
He had, though, had some success with the system before. He played Che Adams and Lyndon Dykes in attack in the opening World Cup qualifier against Denmark in Copenhagen and his side had ground out a 0-0 win.
It is, with regulars Adams, Lewis Ferguson, Kieran Tierney, Scott McTominay and John McGinn all absent having only arrived in the camp the previous evening and Curacao playing most of the encounter with a numerical disadvantage, difficult to say if the fresh, attacking approach is worth repeating.
Hirst, who has helped Ipswich Town win another promotion to the Premier League in England in recent weeks, forced a save from goalkeeper Eloy Room with a first half header. Shankland, meanwhile, dropped deep repeatedly, tried to link play and netted two sweet first-time strikes in the second half.
Will Clarke revert to three man backline which has served him so well during his tenure at the World Cup? There is every chance. But this outing, albeit against limited opposition, has given him much to mull over.
Hickey return
The loss of Aaron Hickey to injury before the Euro 2024 finals was devastating for Scotland. Clarke was forced, with Nathan Patterson also unavailable, to play Anthony Ralston, who had hardly featured for Celtic in the previous months, at right-wing back.
Ralston was, his misplaced pass in the 1-1 draw with Switzerland in Cologne aside, fine. But Hickey had been outstanding, both defensively and offensively, in qualifying and he was badly missed in Germany.
There were concerns the Brentford defender, who has spent over two months out with a hamstring problem this year, would once again miss out. But he returned at the start of this month and made three appearances for his club The home supporters, then, were pleased to see him back in a dark blue jersey.
There was slight alarm when the former Hearts and Bologna man fell to the turf clutching his shoulder and then when he was blatantly shouldered in the face by Locadia.
The Miami striker was initially only shown a yellow for that offence. But Georgian referee Goga Kikacheishvili was urged to have another look at the incident on his pitchside monitor by his VAR colleagues and upgraded it to a red after he did so.
Hickey was replaced by Patterson at half-time. He will hopefully benefit from the minutes and be fit to face Haiti in the Group C opener in Foxborough next month. But how much football can he be expected to play in the United States after so long out?
Centre-half calamity
Scott McKenna and John Souttar were preferred to Grant Hanley, Dom Hyam and Jack Hendry in the heart of the defence – but the centre-back duo damaged their hopes of getting the nod for the Haiti game when they allowed the visitors to break the deadlock in the 17th minute.
The former failed to cut out the delivery to Tahith Chong in the centre circle and the latter allowed the forward to advance unchallenged into his penalty box and then rifle a shot between his legs and beyond Craig Gordon.
There was, apart from in the section which housed the Curacao supporters, a stunned silence around the ground. This was not how this was supposed to go? Did nobody give Advocaat the script?
Gilmour setback, Curtis joy
This was an opportunity for Billy Gilmour, the technically-gifted Napoli midfielder who many Scotland fans would like to see start in every international, to show what he is capable of, to pull the strings in the middle of the park, to dictate play.
The former Chelsea kid was unable, though, to make his presence felt as the hosts strruggled to compete. His game ended when he went down injured shortly before half-time. He was taken off injured as a precautionary measure and was sent for a scan. It is to be hoped his problem is not too serious.
But one man’s misfortune is another’s opportunity. Curtis, who made his debut for his country against Japan in March, came on and firmly grasped his opportunity. The teenager levelled in added-on time when he controlled a Kenny McLean pass with his right foot and slotted into the bottom right corner with his left.
Fletch lives!
Clarke had promised that he would make multiple changes and he was true to his word. Patterson, Hanley, Dykes and Hyam took over from Hickey, Souttar, Hirst and McKenna. But there was also the surprise appearance of young Tyler Fletcher.
The 19-year-old Manchester United midfielder was one of five exciting prospects – James Wilson, Liam McFarlane, Luke Graham and Andrew Tod were the others – who were called in to the camp this week to supplement numbers. He is not scheduled to travel to America.
But the son of former Scotland captain Darren, who was taking in proceedings from the main stand, clearly has a bright future ahead of him in the game. He did superbly during his time on the park and showed a maturity beyond his tender years.
Scotland were far better after half-time and both of their goals came from well-worked moves involving first Ryan Christie and Kenny McLean and then Christie and Dykes. Shankland, who took his international tally to six with his brace, will be extremely difficult to leave out after this. The ex-Hearts skipper was a deserved recipient of the Man of the Match award after the final whistle.
Ralston replaced Andy Robertson, Wilson came on for Shankland and Liam Kelly gave Gordon a rest in the final minutes. It was, the injury to Gilmour aside, exactly the workout that Scotland needed. On to Bolivia in New Jersey next Saturday.
