HOLD YOUR HEADS HIGH

Robbo's thunderbolt shows we belong at the top level but it's heartache as Scots miss out on Pot 1

- KEITH JACKSON

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.