OUR PRAYERS HAVE BEEN ANSWERED: Scots sought divine intervention after a dismal record of one win in 15 games, but four-match unbeaten run has Tartan Army all singing from same hymn sheet

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Five months ago, the crumbling Maksimir Stadium in Zagreb felt like a fitting backdrop for the latest calamity to befall Steve Clarke’s Scotland.

As with the previous Nations League matches against Poland and Portugal, the display against Croatia had not been without its moments of promise.

The visitors were deservedly in front when Ryan Christie scored, only to be pegged back before the break through Igor Matanovic’s equaliser.

They were left chasing the game when Andrej Kramaric fortuitously netted with 20 minutes left.

In the closing seconds, Scotland pressed for a leveller which would not have been ill-deserved. When Kristijan Jakic panicked and turned the ball into his own net, the visiting bench exploded in celebration.

Their joy was short-lived. The obligatory VAR check identified that Che Adams had strayed marginally offside in the build-up.

Scott McTominay celebrates after dispatching the game-winning penalty in Greece midweek

Manager Steve Clarke was delighted to see his players put in an excellent away performance

The Tartan Army are all smiles after seeing team head home with Nations League play-off lead

It was another hideous ending to add to a growing list. Clarke’s side looked good for a opening-night point against Poland until Nicola Zalewski converted a 97th-minute penalty.

The same applied in Lisbon until Cristiano Ronaldo plunged a dagger into their hearts with two minutes remaining.

No-one ever claimed that competing in the top tier would be easy, but nor could anyone have imagined that it would be quite so brutal and heartbreaking.

‘I think we’ll start bringing a priest to games,’ one disconsolate member of the visiting party told Mail Sport. ‘What do we need to do to get a break?’

The trouble for Clarke at that particular moment was that his audience were not sympathetic to his plight.

With Scotland having qualified for a second successive Euros in spectacular fashion, Germany last summer should have been the adventure of a lifetime.

In Munich, Cologne and Stuttgart — and every point in between — the Tartan Army drunk bars dry and sang themselves hoarse.

The only downside happened to be the very reason they were there. The team were diabolical. After all the hype and hullabaloo, and all the talk of going where no Scotland side had gone before, the team scarcely turned up.

The Scots bowed out of EURO 2024 in Germany with a whimper last summer

With a point against the Swiss bookended by dismal defeats to Germany and Hungary, Clarke’s outfit were confronted by some alarming statistics.

At the outset of the qualifying campaign, they’d ripped up the record book by winning five straight matches.

Between a home loss to England in a friendly the previous September and that late loss to the Hungarians, their only win in 12 games was an unconvincing one in a warm-up game against Gibraltar in Portugal.

By the time Lady Luck had turned her back on the Scots at the midway point of the Nations League campaign, that run had extended to one win in 15.

A priest? Without a single point at that juncture and with Ronaldo and company due in town three days later, Clarke might well have recruited an imam, a minister and a rabbi, too, and seen where that took him. 

Goodness knows he’d tried everything else. After five years in the post, it just felt like he was running out of road.

What then ensued certainly owed something to faith. In the aftermath of Germany, the manager had been unrepentant and truculent in public. The lack of personal responsibility taken for an atrocious display stuck in the throat of many who’d spent fortunes following the side.

But while there was no note of contrition in his media dealings, Clarke privately did take stock of what had gone wrong and sought to change things.

Cristiano Ronaldo failed to get the better of Craig Gordon when Portugal last  visited Hampden 

Although Kieran Tierney’s injury-enforced absence forced his hand to an extent, he switched from a 3-4-2-1 to a 4-2-3-1. And even as the clamour to ditch the system grew louder throughout those three opening Nations League defeats, Clarke stuck to his guns.

Whether divine intervention played its part or not, there was certainly something glorious about the sight of Ronaldo departing the scene in a strop after Portugal had failed to breach Scotland’s defence at Hampden.

While the updated statistic showed one win in 16 and Scotland were still propping up the group, they were at least on the board.

The change of shape had finally borne some fruit. And yet, essentially, this was the same group of players. Ben Doak aside, the team was brimming with seasoned campaigners and familiar faces.

The inclusions of Anthony Ralston and Grant Hanley came despite them struggling for game time with Celtic and Norwich, respectively. When Clarke trusts a player, he does not flinch.

When Croatia came to Hampden last November, the only change the manager made was enforced, with Tommy Conway filling in for Adams.

Scotland certainly caught a break that night as Petar Sucic needlessly got himself sent off. They took full advantage of the situation, John McGinn’s late winner ensuring they would travel to Poland with belief replenished.

Like a new pair of shoes, the system hadn’t immediately felt right but they were starting to grow into it.

John McGinn got the winner against Croatia in November as Scots returned to winning ways

Back in the side in Warsaw, McGinn netted early, only for Kamil Piatkowski to level with a thunderous strike.

While Andy Robertson’s stoppage-time winner wasn’t quite enough to secure second place, it reconnected the team and its supporters with those momentous wins against Norway and Spain that had come before the rot set in.

While the five-month hiatus was a concern, it was clear from the outset in Piraeus on Thursday that Clarke’s side were in a much better place.

Even with Doak and Lyndon Dykes sidelined, the players produced a controlled and measured performance. Having looked last summer like a bunch of individuals who’d met that morning at breakfast, this was a proper team effort.

The one-goal lead they enjoyed at the break might well have been two or three if Adams had taken his chances. With Greece inspired by teenage winger Konstantinos Karetsas in the second half, Clarke’s side gritted their teeth and prevailed through sheer force of will.

Ralston and Hanley were again outstanding. The same could be said of Craig Gordon, John Souttar and Robertson.

McTominay produced another towering display, with McGinn’s contribution as valuable as any he’s delivered in Dark Blue in recent times.

With Billy Gilmour and Kenny McLean dovetailing perfectly in the deeper roles, Lewis Ferguson provided the perfect blend of aggression off the ball and composure on it.

Watching the win from afar due to suspension, Christie’s delight with the outcome will have been tempered with the knowledge that he’s not certain to start when hostilities resume at Hampden tomorrow. Likewise Tierney, a late substitute as a first victory on Greek soil was claimed.

Scotland are not there yet. Not by a long chalk.

Greece will arrive in Glasgow miffed by the fact their incessant pressure in the second period didn’t earn them a share of the spoils. They’ll believe they can still turn this tie around, and win promotion to the top tier while simultaneously relegating the Scots.

However, as they left the great city of ruins on Friday on the back of a third straight victory and a fourth game undefeated, Clarke’s players will have felt they are constructing something once again. Those prayers appear to have been answered.