'Can be achieved': Greece make bold World Cup statement after damaging Scotland defeat

The Greeks took the lead through Kostas Tsimikas and looked likely to go on and pick up a precious win in Glasgow, only to concede goals from Ryan Christie and Lewis Ferguson to fall to defeat.

Greece sit third in Group C at the halfway stage of the qualification phase, four points behind both leaders Denmark and second-placed Scotland. They next head to Copenhagen to face Denmark. Jovanovic admitted that his team now has no margin for error.

“It's simple,” said Jovanovic “If we want to continue to keep our chances alive, we need to win the next three matches.

“The two defeats against Denmark last month and Scotland today leave us behind in our chances to qualify. In the next three days, aside from getting the players to rest, we also have to come up with a gameplan to win the next match. We look forward to the next one.

“We didn't make many mistakes today. We simply made every mistake we could. We made some lapses in concentration from two set pieces, which gave Scotland a goal as well and a chance to be in the game. We didn't make many mistakes in the match, but the ones we did cost us heavily.

“It's a goal [the World Cup] that can be achieved. I think it's a difficult time for the players as well. We have a big goal ahead of us.

“We have to do our best to play the way we are playing now. There is a huge target at the end of it, which is the World Cup. It only happens once in four years. It's a difficult moment for the players as well.

“But we all need to find the energy going forward to get a result on Sunday, to give us a chance to go into next month's matches.”