HE wanted his team to be horrible to play against.
What he got was a World Cup qualifier horrible to watch.
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But for Steve Clarke and his Scotland players, this was a victory and three precious points as beautiful as they come.
It was never going to be easy on the eye, was it?
Not in a soulless, empty stadium in deepest darkest Hungary.
What was it Jock Stein said?
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‘Football is nothing without fans’
Because this as another reminder of how much the game we love relies heavily on having supporters there to watch.
No, this was all about being professional and getting the job done by whichever means necessary.
And Clarke’s can hold their heads high.
Sure, a more emphatic victory would have been nice against a Belarus team that’s bang average at best.
But winning was the be-all and end-all here.
Che Adams’ first-half strike was followed up by a Belarus OG after the break and it was no more than Scotland deserved.
That’s four points from the first two qualifiers which is what everyone would have been satisfied with before the first ball was kicked.
With Denmark beating Greece away from home, Group C is now wide open going into the next round of games next month.
Scotland will need to play better than this when the Greeks come to Hampden, sure they will.
But in a sell-out Hampden it’s going to feel like night and day from this.
Having no fans inside the ZTE Arena made for a surreal experience.
A handful of TA made the trek to the Hungarian outpost of Zalaegerszeg just to say they’d been here.
Some welcomed the team off the bus.
After Flower of Scotland echoed around the empty stadium as the teams lined up, one lone voice was heard to shout ‘C’mon Scotland’ from outside.’
When it became clear there was to be no way of blagging their way inside, it was presumably off to a local boozer.
For them and the fans watching on TV back home, the first-half must have been frustrating viewing.
Belarus – hammered 5-1 by Greece last week – were stuffy and hard to break down.
They got men behind the ball and defended deep.
Winning free-kicks was their main aim.
When they launched the ball forward, their No11 German Barkovski kept going down line a ton of bricks any time the superb John Souttar came near him.
Annoyingly, Montenegrin referee Nikola Dabanovic kept falling for it by awarding free-kicks for next to nothing.
For all that, though, Scotland were in danger of letting it all get to them.
There were too many square passes in the first-half.
Far too many times when the ball wasn’t moved quickly enough from middle to front.
The Belarus back-five restricted the space for the likes of Adams and Scott McTominay to do damage.
But Clarke’s men had to do better.
If there was one person on the pitch who was on it, it was little Ben Gannon-Doak.
He was Scotland’s biggest threat. By far.
The wee man played with a swagger that no-one else out there had.
Always desperate to get on the ball, at times the £25million winger had No13 Sergei Karpovich on toast.
For 45 minutes the Belarusian was turned inside out and it was no surprise when the defender didn’t reappear for the second-half.
Scotland just needed others to have the same attitude as the new Bournemouth boy.
Belarus had moments when they threatened.
Angus Gunn had to make a good save at his near post after 39 minutes after Max Johnston nodded off.
The Scotland No1 also had to be aware of long balls over the top.
Taking the lead was vital for Scotland.
Had they gone behind, then it would have been disastrous as Belarus would have had more reason to sit in.
And thankfully the crucial opener came three minutes before the break.
John McGinn – another impressive performer – floated a brilliant cross to the back post for McTominay.
Adams was already off his mark to get into position between the posts.
And when the Napoli star headed the ball across goal the Torino striker was in there right place at the right time to score.
It was a massive moment that eased the pressure and changed Clarke’s half-time team-talk there and then.
Belarus were never going to fold after that.
In fact, if anything going behind riled them up more.
Their No17 Vladislav Kalinin could have bene shown a straight card for a wild challenge on Lewis Ferguson.
The Bologna midfielder hasn’t had his troubles to seek with injuries throughout his career,.
When he was smashed on the ankle he screamed in agony and it was little wonder. Thankfully he as soon back up on his feet.
But only the officials know why Kalinin wasn’t sent off.
It was imperative Scotland kept their own discipline. Gannon-Doak was yellow carded for a foul of his own and he couldn’t have any complaints.
Soon, though, the second goal arrived to seal the victory.
Gilmour tried to pick out McTominay after a ball clipped forward into the box with Belarus defender Zachary Volkov turning the ball into his own net.
The ‘home’ team had nothing left to give after that.
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Adams almost had a second goal of the game but had an effort cleared off the line.
But a 2-0 win was good enough.
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