Scotland reaction: Steve Clarke has say on Ben Doak, Croatia red card and makes worst display admission

Midfielder Petar Sucic picked up a second yellow card after a high challenge on John Souttar two minutes before half-time. According to Croatia manager Zlatko Dalic, the decision from referee Orel Grinfeeld changed the game.

Clarke was not going to disagree. “I think when you put two yellow cards together to get a red, I'm not sure it was strong enough to be a red,” he said. “If I'm being honest, if it had happened against us, I would have been just as disappointed as they were.”

Scotland fought hard to break down the ten men and finally did so with four minutes left through John McGinn, after more thrilling wing play from winger Ben Doak, who picked up the man of the match award aged just 19. Asked to assess the teenager’s performance in what was just his third start, Clarke replied that he had expected such a strong performance from a player he clearly has so much faith in.

“It was good but I thought he might be,” he said. “He's come into the team, he's shown a really positive attitude, he brings us something a little bit different to what we've had before. So I'm really pleased with Ben and he gets the assist for the goal with the run. He could maybe have had a couple more, could maybe have scored one himself. So that's a contribution from a young player that we need to protect and look after but realise that he's good for now and hopefully for a long time in the future.”

Doak will certainly be vital if Scotland are to secure a win on Monday in Poland required to avoid automatic relegation from the top tier of the Nations League at least. There is still a possibility that they can finish second in the group and reach the quarter-finals, if they win in Warsaw and Portugal beat Croatia in Zagreb and these outcomes also involve a three-goal swing. Clarke is only concentrating on getting another three points in the first instance.

“We have to win,” he said. “First job is to go there and win, if we do that then we'll count up the goals and whatever afterwards. But let's take it a step at a time. It's been a hell of a long time since we got a win, now we've got to get another one on Monday night. So it'd be nice to get back-to-back (victories).”

Clarke felt Scotland can play a lot better than they did against Croatia, who were clearly the better side in the first half and had their moments in the second half too. Indeed, the manager rated the performance as the worst so far in this section of the Nations League.

“We can play better,” he said. “I think we can be better with the ball, I think we can be more clinical when we get to the final third of the pitch. Obviously the sending off changes the direction of the game but we were due a little break.”

There was a nice moment at the end when Clarke made a beeline towards Croatia skipper Luka Modric, who had played superbly once more on what could be his last appearance on Scottish soil. Asked what he had said to the 39-year-old, Clarke said: “I just wished him well, good luck for the last game,” revealed the manager. “We had a little chat about the game-changing incident.”