AS a player who has plied his trade in England for seven years now, James McArthur said it was his team’s ability to channel their inner Scottishness that earned them a famous draw against the Auld Enemy. A draw which he admits should have been so much more, writes Scott Mullen.
McArthur was instrumental in Scotland’s second-half revival on Saturday after replacing James Morrison and rightly deserves plenty of credit for providing the platform for Leigh Griffiths’ magic show late on.
However, the selfless Crystal Palace midfielder, still traumatised by the afternoon’s cruel sting in the tale, was quick to point to a tribal spirit from Scotland as the key asset for Gordon Strachan’s team.
“The character within the group is incredible,” said McArthur. “We are playing against top-class Premier League players, yet we pushed them right until the end.
“We kept going and going. People are talking about cramp, yet there was someone like James Morrison who hurt his knee inside the first two minutes and kept playing until half-time.
“It’s a not a question of character. It’s about Scottish people. We are resilient and you can see how down we are.
“The fans were incredible. Not just from the start of the game, but even when we were coming into the ground on the bus.
“They were with us all the way through and they needed to be because had they gone against us when we lost a goal, it would have been hard.
“But they stuck with us and we tried to reward them, but it wasn’t to be with Kane scoring the late goal.”
Scotland now have a lengthy break before they attempt to dispel the disappointment inflicted by Harry Kane. A trip to Lithuania the next stop for Strachan and his team on what, quite unbelievably, could still be a road to Russia.
“Maybe it is a good thing that there is a long gap to the next match,” said McArthur.
“This might have been a decent result before the match, but so many of the boys are feeling really low.
“It might be good that we are having a little break. We need to win the next game. That’s all we need to be thinking about.”
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