Scotland reaction: Steve Clarke addresses evolution of team and why he took Ben Doak off

Steve Clarke declared Scotland ready for World Cup qualification after his side retained hopes of staying in the top level of the Nations League with a last-gasp 2-1 win in Poland.

Scotland manager Steve Clarke and assistant John Carver celebrate after the win over Poland in Warsaw. | PA

Andy Robertson's injury-time header, which came after Kamil Piatkowski had levelled John McGinn’s early opener, sent Scotland above Poland into third place in section A1 to set up a two-legged play-off in March against one of the runners-up in the second tier for the right to stay among the elite.

Scotland missed out on second place after Croatia got the point they needed at home to Portugal but the victory also boosted chances of Clarke’s men edging their way into pot two for next month’s World Cup qualifying draw.

Scotland are looking for either Georgia or Estonia to avoid defeat away at Czechia and Slovakia respectively on Tuesday - otherwise it will be pot three. The win completed a remarkable turnaround for a Scotland side that lost their opening three matches in Nations League A.

Scotland manager Steve Clarke and assistant John Carver celebrate after the win over Poland in Warsaw. | PA

"The more you play at this level the better you get," Clarke said. "We started with three narrow defeats but good performances. The players didn't lose belief. I didn't lose belief in the players. And they ended up taking seven points from the last three games which gets us into that play-off.

"The more you play at this level, the more you learn how to win the games, and that's what we've proved. It's just the evolution of a team. The team evolves. This is just another step on the journey.

"We want to go with to another major tournament. We now start next year with a tough play-off to try to stay at the highest level of the Nations League but that will set us up for a tough World Cup campaign, and we're ready for it. We've shown that were ready for it."

Clarke intimated before the match that he was considering dropping Ben Doak despite the winger’s impressive performance against Croatia. Asked if he was glad he did start the 19-year-old, who set up McGinn’s opener to make it three assists in four caps, the Scotland head coach replied: “Obviously! Another assist from Ben, which is good. I think he tired quite quickly in the second half. I should maybe have taken him off a little bit earlier.

“But he’s a threat, he’s very direct and he gets at defenders. Having been a full-back myself I know when you’ve got a winger like that who gets at you, it makes it difficult for the defenders, and he brings us something that little bit different.”