Steve Clarke revealed last week that one of his favourite sayings to his players is that they should “play with the anticipation of success and not the fear of failure”.

From the evidence of the World Cup campaign so far, for the Tartan Army to anticipate anything is just to invite surprise.

A short and intense group stage has so far already delivered: a strong start in the shape of an away draw in Denmark; a competent win over Belarus with no fans in attendance; a bizarre double-header where poor performances against Greece and Belarus brought boos, criticism… and maximum points, followed by a penultimate match in Athens where a fightback against the Greeks couldn’t bring the point it was assumed was essential.

When news filtered through that Denmark had drawn at home to bottom seeds B

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