Grant Hanley believes Scotland have turned a corner and the team can prove it by finishing with a flourish and keeping Steve Clarke‘s side in the top tier of the Nations League.
The national side picked up their first point in Nations League Group A1 with the 0-0 home draw with Portugal. Hanley is looking to kick on and is looking for wins in the final two games at home to Croatia and away to Poland next month. The Scots are currently bottom of the group and will need to claw back Poland’s three point gap if they want to avoid relegation from the top group and could also impact their seeding in the World Cup qualifying draw.
Hanley said: “This is the level we want to be competing at. We have got here because we have been successful over the last few years and this is where we want to test ourselves. It is okay competing with these teams and holding our own but we want to start getting results.
“We won’t be going into the next camp flying high and thinking we are going to beat everyone by a few goals. I think we will take the positives, as we always do. We will analyse it and look to see where we can improve again and then continually try to get better.”
Scotland had opened up the campaign with narrow defeats to Poland, Portugal and Croatia. Hanley knew the importance of stopping the rot in the Portuguese return. He proudly claimed: “Definitely, being at home and performing like we did, we were always going to take the fans with us.
“It definitely gives us that wee extra boost as well. Again, it was nice to put it together and to get the result.
“In saying that, I don’t think we have been too far off where we want to be in the last few games. Results are what matter, at the end of the day.”
Scotland have failed to register a competitive win since they qualified for Euro 2024. That has brought a lot of stick. The defender acknowledged: “Definitely, we are not daft. We know there are going to be times where we will come in for criticism for not getting results.
“People will look at that. When you are in the mix of it then it is important to realise we are going in the right direction. I don’t think performances have been a million miles away from where we need to be. We have maybe not had that wee bit of luck we have needed, but on Tuesday we put on a performance and also got a result.”
Scotland claimed their first competitive clean sheet since the Euro 2024 qualifying campaign. That gave them the basis to take something against Portugal. He admitted: “As defenders, that is obviously your bread and butter. That is what you want in every single game.
“When you concede goals you analyse it and look at what we could have done right. We put it all together against Portugal and got a clean sheet.
“We knew at times there would need to be blocks and we would need to rely on Craig (Gordon) at times. We know he is always good for a save or two. I am just really happy with the clean sheet.”
So much so that Cristiano Ronaldo stormed up the tunnel in a strop after the goalless Hampden stalemate. Hanley insisted: “When you play against big players it is important to let them know they are not going to have it their own way all night. He is just frustrated but overall we have to focus on ourselves. That is what we have been doing and will continue to do.”
The Norwich City player knows there have been mitigating circumstances for the recent poor run, but he insisted they also haven’t been too far away. He claimed: “It is really important to remember the direction we are going in. As players, we feel we are going the right way.”