Aston Villa man John McGinn urges Scots to keep their eye on the ball
Villa midfielder John McGinn has warned Scotland against complacency as they aim to take another step toward the World Cup in the Faroe Islands tomorrow.
Saturday’s dramatic 3-2 win over Israel at Hampden Park has kept Steve Clarke’s men on course for second place in Group F and a play-off spot.
McGinn scored a terrific 11th international goal as the Scots twice came from behind before Manchester United’s Scott McTominay bundled in an added-time winner to spark wild scenes of celebration.
Scotland now sit seven points behind runaway leaders Denmark, four ahead of both Israel and Austria and 10 ahead of the Faroes with Moldova at the bottom with one point.
They now head to the Faroes as big favourites but McGinn knows they cannot afford to take their eye off the ball.
He said: “It will be a tricky game. I remember going there to play Runavik with Hibs in the Europa League qualifier, everyone expected us to hammer them.
“Like we saw here at Hampden, it was 4-0 but it certainly didn’t feel like that in the game, we were very clinical on the night.
“So we won’t be taking them for granted, they are a very physical team and we will also have to adapt to the surface.
“The minute we think we are doing all right and think we just turn up and win is when we get done. After Tuesday we then go on to Moldova. We don’t want Saturday’s special night to go to waste and we will try to get to that 20-point mark as soon as possible.”
McGinn saluted the character of Clarke’s team after they battled to victory against Israel.
He explained: “It could have been quite easy at half-time (when we were trailing) to fold but it’s a home game and we wanted to send the fans home happy. It’s been a couple of years since they’ve had a day like this but I’m sure they’ll have smiles on their faces.
“They could have easily gone to the pub but they decided to stick with us. It was probably as good an atmosphere as I’ve heard here for years.
“It was my 39th cap and my first ever full house for Scotland.
“It was like the games I used to come to when I was younger, Ukraine at home on a Saturday at 3 o’clock; the Czech Republic, all those ones where you dream about playing for Scotland. We are giving the fans a team to be proud of.”
