Steve Clarke hails Scotland heroes as national team qualify for first World Cup since 1998 after wild win over Denmark at Hampden.

Steve Clarke admitted that he was simply stunned by the quality of Scotland’s goals as his squad wrote themselves into the history books by reaching next year’s World Cup in spectacular fashion.

The national team, looking to qualify directly for the World Cup having not been at one since 1998 in France, secured a famous 4-2 win over Denmark at Hampden. Napoli’s Scott McTominay scored a sensational overhead kick early on while Celtic ace Kieran Tierney and Norwich City midfielder Kenny McLean also chipped in with wonder-goals in their own right. Hearts forward Lawrence Shankland also found the back of the net from close range in a match that had it all.

And after leading Scotland to next year’s tournament after topping their qualifying group, proud head coach Clarke hailed his heroes for completing what has been a remarkable journey.

Clarke ‘delighted’ for his Scotland heroes

He said: “It feels good. I said at the start of the campaign, I felt the pressure of the new campaign and the nation to try and get to the World Cup. Immediately that falls off your shoulders and you feel a little bit better but what a fantastic group of players. I've said it for a long time now about how good they are and how determined they are to be good for their country. They showed that tonight, I couldn't be happier for my players, I couldn't be happier. Don't underestimate how good the Danes were. Obviously we had a really fast start which was great but everybody spoke about a fast start, get the crowd onside. Unbelievable goal from Mr McTominay. Then you've got that little mindset where they know they're winning. We didn't allow Denmark to probably control too much of the game. When we had the ball we didn't use it well enough. I don't like to be critical of my players, but we didn't use the ball well enough and we spoke about that at half-time. But the second half started in a similar way. Obviously we got the penalty 1-1 and I had to make changes and I'm thinking I have to go two up top because it worked quite well for us in Denmark. I knew at some stage tonight I'd probably have to go two up top. It's one of the reasons why I started Lyndon, thinking that Che and Lawrence would come in and give us a different process up front. Get back 2-1, ten men, I'm thinking nearly there.

“Obviously we weren't because we conceded 2-2 and you're thinking oh my god, what's next? But next was fantastic, we got grip of the game. They paid a little bit for their time-wasting, they got the six minutes that they needed. Obviously it was a great decision to put a left-footed player on it right back. No doubt if it hadn't worked out they'd have got a little bit of stick for that. I'd already spoken to Kieran pre-camp saying that we had issues. Obviously we knew Aaron couldn't finish 90 minutes. So that was a good choice, all the subs scored. Kenny's got the ball in the last minute, I'm thinking counter-attack, probably three against one. He hits the ball and you're thinking, you know what, that's got to go in. And it did. It was a fantastic night.”

Clarke added: “Delighted for my players, absolutely delighted. When we lost to Ukraine, I spoke at length, that was one of my longer speeches before the game, one of my longer chats with the players. We spoke at length about the journey for Serbia, talked it through, how we did it and how we felt. Obviously getting to the Euro 2024 was a high. We just spoke about the journey a little bit and told them to remember how we felt after Ukraine and to bottle that feeling.”