John McGinn feels Scotland restored some pride with Tartan Army over past week

Midfielder John McGinn felt Scotland restored some pride with the Tartan Army over the past week following their disappointment during the summer.

But he knows they now need to get results to go with their improvement.

Steve Clarke’s side suffered yet another late blow as they went down 2-1 against Portugal in Lisbon on Sunday night. Cristiano Ronaldo’s 88th-minute winner means Scotland have now conceded in the final five minutes of five of their last six matches.

But the performances in narrow defeats against Poland and Portugal in their opening UEFA Nations League A1 games were a far cry from the way they limped out of Euro 2024 with a 1-0 defeat against Hungary.

With Kieran Tierney still missing following the hamstring injury he sustained in Germany, Clarke has learnt that playing three centre-backs is not the way forward when the Arsenal defender is absent. A 4-2-3-1 formation has allowed them more possession and more attacking threat.

From being a team that struggled to launch attacks in Germany, Scotland started on the front foot in Lisbon and took the lead through Scott McTominay’s header.

They held out until Bruno Fernandes netted in the 54th minute before quickly getting back in the game and pushing their hosts back for spells.

They could not sustain the pressure, with an injury to Kenny McLean proving costly and Ronaldo hit the post twice before making late pressure count.

McGinn said in a video posted on the Scotland National Team account on X: “Obviously a sickener at the end but much more like us in terms of level of performance, desire, commitment.

“I don’t think many people gave us a chance of getting anything from the game and the way we competed for 90-plus minutes was brilliant.

“We were up against a top-class team. Once we conceded the first goal it would have been easy for us to crumble and go under. After a wobbly two or three minutes, we managed to get our foot on the ball, create some chances and put them on the back foot.

“So we have learned a lot over these two games. I think individual mistakes in the first game, including my own, cost us after a good performance really.

“I don’t think that one was a case of individual mistakes, it was just a case of the pressure being just a little bit too much at the end. On another day we could have maybe come away with a point or three.”

The Aston Villa captain added: “I think this camp was about getting back together, trying to build something a bit fresh.

“I know the starting team wasn’t as fresh as people probably would have thought or envisioned but these boys are getting experience to come and try and help us. The players who came on were excellent again.

“I think the supporters wanted a reaction from the summer. There’s no getting away from how disappointing it was. But I’m sure they will be proud of us.

“Even though it’s another defeat, we are not proud of the run we are on, but performances like that will get us there in the end.”

McGinn and his team-mates have now won just once in 14 matches, the victory coming against Gibraltar.

The former St Mirren and Hibernian player is desperate to get back to winning ways when Scotland visit Croatia and host Portugal next month.

“We don’t want to be too positive in terms of it’s another defeat,” he said. “We know that. But we are coming into the top division on the back of our own success, getting ourselves here.

“This is where we want to compete. We want to stay in this division.

“We are going to come up against teams like Portugal, again obviously next month, but they knew they were in a game, they were definitely right up against it.

“We fought for every ball, we competed toe-to-toe with them at times and that’s all Scotland fans want to see and that’s all we want as team-mates.

“Obviously, after a disappointing summer for us, they don’t want to hear ‘they had a good time and it was a great experience’. We let them down. We know we can improve and do better and that game proved that.

“But no matter the scoreline, whether we won 6-0 or lost 6-0, the next Scotland away game they will be there and fully behind us. Hopefully they were proud of the performance and we appreciate their support.”