Scotland skipper Andy Robertson says they have taken a huge step towards making history with their World Cup win over Haiti, writes Scott McDermott in Boston.
Steve Clarke’s side secured a priceless 1-0 victory in their Group C opener in Boston, thanks to John McGinn’s first-half winner. It put them top of the table after Brazil’s draw with Morocco in New Jersey.
Irrespective of the Scots’ performance, Robertson is adamant they achieved what they set out to do by picking up three points against the Caribbean minnows. He believes they are now on their way to becoming the first Scotland side ever to reach the knock-out phase of a major tournament.
The captain said: “We got the result and togetherness that we wanted. This was the game people expected us to win. Let’s be honest, people back in Scotland didn’t really know anything about Haiti. We’d done our homework and knew it would be difficult. We knew how they’d be difficult, with counter-attacks because they’re really strong and quick. But I thought we dealt with it really well. We defended so well.
“Could we have been better on the ball? Yeah. Could we maybe have defended higher up the pitch at times? Maybe. But when everyone in the country expects you to win, you have to get credit when you do win. We’re delighted. It’s three points and a big step towards what we want to achieve.
“Could the next two games maybe suit us better with less expectation? Time will tell. They’re two fantastic teams so it’s obviously going to be difficult. But we’ve done pretty well against the bigger nations so we have to believe in ourselves.
“We’re now on three points. What we need to go through, we don’t know yet. But we’ve certainly made a big step today. None of the lads are shying away from it - we want to be the first Scotland team to make history. That’s our determination and motivation and we’ve taken a good step towards that.”
Scotland deserved their victory against Haiti, even if they made it hard for themselves at times. They could not find a second goal after McGinn had put them in front and had to defend their own box towards the end to secure the win. But there were positives too for Clarke at full-time. The likes of Grant Hanley and Lewis Ferguson put in excellent performances, as did young winger Ben Gannon-Doak who played a major part in the build-up to the goal.
Robertson played alongside the £20m Bournemouth kid at Liverpool and says he can be a game-changer for his country. He said: “Ben was excellent, he’s such an exciting player. The experienced boys are still trying to help him because at times he does things that can frustrate us, of course he does. But he’s an incredible talent. He’s lightning quick, he can take a player on, he can make something happen in the game. Those players are always exciting and they’re probably quite rare in Scotland. So he’s such a talent, a good player and such a good guy because he listens to all of us. He always tries to take it on board and he was excellent against Haiti.
“But there were others too. Hanley and Jack Hendry at the back were outstanding. Fergie as well. Defensively, the team were really strong. Sometimes we made wrong decisions with the ball but we were all good defensively and that’s why we got the clean sheet.”
