Pre-match thoughts<\/p>\n
Speaking after Friday’s game, Lyndon Dykes reflected on a strong personal performance as the striker made his first international appearance since starting in Warsaw in the 2-1 win over Poland in November. Dykes started up front alongside Che Adams and the pair dragged Scotland up the pitch on numerous occasions as they linked up well.<\/p>\n
He said: “It can be difficult when you are playing big teams and you have to defend. So you often play one up front and it\u2019s tough.<\/p>\n
\u201cGoing with two up front on Friday helped us. Myself and Che can work with each other and make it a little bit harder for their defenders.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt probably helped when we had a counter attack with their defenders having two players to focus on rather than just one.<\/p>\n
\u201cAgain, that\u2019s the manager maybe seeing a weakness in them and coming up with what he thought would work better on the night. Playing with Che is something I\u2019ve done before and we have a great connection.<\/p>\n
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“We dug in really well the other night. We obviously knew it was going to be difficult but we turned in a great performance and defended well. It could have been three points – but it might also have been zero points.<\/p>\n
\u201cIf we can now go and win against Belarus on Monday, it will be a really good start to the campaign.<\/p>\n
“The draw suits us more than Denmark, I would say because we were the away team.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt\u2019s quite a hard place to play so we should be proud of our performance. I think everyone on the pitch did really well. We had a couple of chances but so did they so we have to take the positives.\u201d<\/p>\n
Scotland manager Steve Clarke also spoke at the Parken Stadium, and he urged maximum respect be shown for Monday’s opposition, as he discussed the fact the match will be played behind closed doors.\u00a0<\/p>\n
“The first thing we have to do is respect Belarus,” said Clarke. “Respect the conditions of the game, which will be behind closed doors, so totally different from tonight where even the opposition crowd give you that momentum to keep going.<\/p>\n
“Obviously the Scotland fans, the Tartan Army, you could hear them all night. That gives the players that little bit of incentive as they’re starting to flag physically.<\/p>\n
“They’ve always got that. It’s a different scenario going to Hungary to play Belarus behind closed doors, but what we have to do is make sure that we approach the game with the same manner, the same intensity and try to get the points that we need.”<\/p>\n
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Team News\u00a0<\/p>\n
There have been a couple of enforced changes since the squad was initially announced, with Anthony Ralston and Kieran Tierney dropping out to be replaced by Josh Doig.<\/p>\n
There were a number of welcome returns for the Scots at the Parken Stadium on Friday night, most notably Aaron Hickey, who played for Scotland for the first time since facing Spain in October 2023.\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n
Lyndon Dykes and Ben-Gannon Doak both played their first Scotland minutes of 2025, with Dykes putting in a mammoth shift up front and Gannon-Doak coming on as a late replacement.<\/p>\n
Ryan Christie, who also missed the June friendlies after undergoing surgery, won his 60th cap in Copenhagen on Friday evening, while skipper Andy Robertson is now only six behind Jim Leighton, who is currently second on the all-time cap list, after winning his 85th cap against Denmark.\u00a0<\/p>\n
Previous Meetings<\/p>\n
Scotland have only faced Monday’s opponents on four occasions, with two victories, a draw and a defeat on the record. The first two results against Belarus were both positive, as Scotland enjoyed two wins in 1997 in our last successful qualifying campaign for a FIFA World Cup.<\/p>\n
Gary McAllister scored the only goal of the game from the penalty spot in Minsk, while it was a more comfortable affair in the return fixture at Pittodrie, with Kevin Gallagher and David Hopkin both scoring a brace each in a 4-1 victory.<\/p>\n
We would have less joy against Belarus in the two meetings in 2005, with a 0-0 draw away from home before a damaging 1-0 defeat left us unable to qualify for the 2006 FIFA World Cup.<\/p>\n
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Tickets\u00a0<\/p>\n
Although the Belarus game is to be played behind closed doors, there are tickets remaining for the home matches at Hampden Park.<\/p>\n
Scotland face\u00a0Greece<\/a>\u00a0at Hampden on Thursday, 9 October before facing\u00a0Belarus<\/a>\u00a0three days later on Sunday, 12 October.\u00a0<\/p>\n