The irony is so cruel and so twisted it’s actually quite spectacular.
Yes, even by the standards set by Scotland’s warped sense of humour. Only our national side could enter a competition like this one, not really sure if it belonged remotely close to such a lofty level. And then go on to prove its credentials so thoroughly, albeit against the backdrop of heartache.
For more than an hour last night – after John McGinn’s early opener – the miracle of progression to the quarter-finals was on. It moved even closer when Portugal played their part by taking the lead in Zagreb too. And even when the Croatians got their act together in order to see off this late threat, Scotland took care of business with a late winner from skipper Andy Robertson to avoid the double whammy of being turfed out into the Nations League’s second tier into the bargain.
As a result, Poland drop down the divisions while Scotland’s upward trajectory continues Cruel? Twisted? You’d better believe it. But it couldn’t have been any more Scottish had it swaggered off into the night wearing a kilt and eating a black pudding supper The will-he-won’t-he and the is-he-out-of-his-mind debates had been raging for more than 24 hours before Clarke finally ended the arguments by revealing he’d been bluffing about dropping Doak all along.
Or had he? Either way, when his teamsheet was released an hour or so before kick-off, Doak’s name was exactly where the Tartan Army wanted it to be. There were places too for McGinn and Lyndon Dykes with Ryan Christie and Tommy Conway making way.
But while it was all about the inclusion of a young gun in Clarke’s XI, Poland were missing an old assassin from theirs, with Barca hitman Robert Lewandowski on a treatment table somewhere in Catalonia. At least his old bones would have been warm because, even with the roof closed over on Warsaw’s national stadium, it was biting cold.
The enormous birthday cake of a stadium was filled to capacity ahead of kick-off, with the enthusiasm of the home crowd undiminished by a recent run of pretty wretched results. But within three minutes that Polish patience was pushed to breaking point – by the little man who went to bed the previous night not knowing if he would be allowed out to play or not.
First, Doak had to be picked out by Billy Gilmour who obliged with a zipping, defence-splitting pass into the youngster’s path. Doak dropped a shoulder to fool his marker before rapping a cut-back into McGinn and the Aston Villa captain slotted home from 12 yards with his lesser- spotted right boot.
As Scotland goals go, this was a thing of considerable beauty. It was also McGinn’s milestone 20th in a dark blue shirt, taking him above Ally McCoist in the all-time ranks. Doak was off and running too, of course. Moments later he was leaving Nicola Zalewski in his slipstream, Josko Gvardiol style, hitting the byline and firing in another probe that had to be hacked to safety.
Every time Doak got on the ball he looked capable of creating havoc with it against a Polish side that is not designed to deal with such searing pace. They much prefer to be moving in the other direction and there was plenty of that going on too.
Craig Gordon had to look lively to keep out Jakub Kaminski’s shot from distance and then tip another power-driver from Kamil Piatkowski over his bar. As the pressure built, Andy Robertson of all people added to Scotland’s concern.
For reasons only known to himself, he floated a high-risk ball across his own 18-yard box which dropped down somewhere between Tony Ralston and Scott McTominay. They froze in the shock of it all as Karol Swiderski steamed between them to burst through on goal.
The striker looked a certain scorer but shanked his shot wide of Gordon’s right-hand post with the keeper horribly exposed. Swiderki passed up another big chance in 23 minutes when, one-on-one with Gordon for a second time, the keeper defied him with one of those trademark, spider-leg saves.
But Scotland responded robustly, with Doak at the heart of most of it. He provided Dykes with a chance to turn and thump a shot over the top. Then he cleverly lobbed a pass over the top for McTominay to race onto and his shot was superbly kept out by keeper Lukasz Skorupski.
In between times, Gilmour had rattled Poland’s bar with a rasper from 30 yards. And before the break, McTominay smacked the base of a post with a shot Skorupski may have got a fingertip to at the vital moment.
Polish chances continued to come and go at the other end too but Scotland made it inside at the break with the lead intact. And the second half opened up along similar lines as Grant Hanley and John Souttar combined to keep out another sure thing from Kaminski.
First Hanley’s studs took the sting out of the winger’s shot, then Souttar slid in to hook it away off the line. It was all complete and utter madness.
But there was no stopping Poland’s next effort – a cannonball from the right boot of Piatkowski that almost ripped Gordon’s net out of the ground as it exploded into the top corner two minutes short of
the hour.
All at once, the whole thing felt like a long-shot all over again. And yet, up the other end, Doak and Gilmour combined to set up Dykes for a header that looked net-bound until Skorupski somehow clawed it out from under his bar.
Clarke turned to his bench and replaced both Dykes and Doak with Lawrence Shankland and Ryan Christie. There were just 24 minutes to spare. Three minutes into injury time Roberston crashed home a stunning winner, getting his head on Souttar’s cross to keep Scotland in the top tier against all of the odds.
And yet somehow they depart feeling as if they deserved something more.