Scotland reaction: 'Crazy night', why Craig Gordon was not sent up for corner and Steve Clarke's debrief

But all’s well that ends well although even that’s far from certain yet. At least Scotland remain in with a chance of automatic qualification for the World Cup. A win on Tuesday against Denmark will guarantee they end a long exile.

Where to begin with Clarke? The 42-year-old goalkeeper playing his first competitive match in six months coming up for a corner towards the end of the 3-2 defeat to Greece and then being frantically waved back by the coaches? It's not something Clarke felt was necessary, even though Denmark were frantically searching for a winner at the same time in Copenhagen against Belarus, which would have meant Scotland needing the point again.

“I have never been a coach who has encouraged goalkeepers to go forward,” the manager explained. “I’d rather another outfield player went in the box. We already had enough players in the box. I didn’t see the need.”

Events in Copenhagen, where Denmark dropped two points after an astonishing 2-2 draw with Belarus, meant an equaliser, from the keeper or anyone else, was not required. Even at half time, when Denmark were leading and Scotland were losing 1-0, it looked like Clarke's side needed to score at least once. They eventually scored twice but at 3-0 down after 63 minutes, the game seemed to be up. Play-offs it was. And then a player called Valery Gromyko scored in Copenhagen. And then a player called Nikita Demchenko scored another goal in Copenhagen. Scenes in the away end. In Piraeus.

Clarke was still shaking his head when he met with reporters later. How do you sum that one up, he was asked. Where are your emotions at? “I am pleased the players still have the opportunity to go straight to a World Cup on Tuesday night,” he replied. “Pleased because they deserve it. They have had a good qualifying campaign up to now.

‘We should have defended their goals better’

“Disappointed that we lost a game I feel on balance it was not a game we should have lost. We should have defended their goals better. We scored two goals away from home and did not get something from the game. If you had told us before the game we would score two goals away from home we would have expected at least a draw. I have mixed emotions in my head just now. I am sure I will settle down in the next couple of days.”

Was he even aware of events in Copenhagen? “Only very late in the game because when it went 3-0 I put some different instructions onto the pitch, I won’t tell you what. It was more with the play-offs in mind. Suddenly we got to 3-1 and realised the other game was the way it was and those instructions were taken back and we tried our best to get something from the game.”

Although they suffered defeat, Scotland now go into Tuesday’s clash against Denmark with their tails up. Who knows how the Danes are feeling? Demoralised most likely. Did Clarke think this might be a factor? “I will tell you on Tuesday,” he said.

“Obviously my job is to digest that game that’s just been played. Crazy game, crazy night. Conceded bad goals, scored good goals. Looked a threat whenever we went forward. Our goalkeeper made great saves. It was probably a great spectacle for people watching but not a good result.

“We wanted to be aggressive on the press,” he added. “We were. We didn’t always get that aggressive press quite night. They really only caused us problems with long balls down the pitch. That is not normally what we are. That is something we have to look at but hopefully it is just a one-off night. It is not normally something that causes us too many problems. It caused us problems tonight. Obviously being three goals down it was just a matter of us trying to get back in the game, which we managed to do.

“As I said to the players after the game, we had to be in the game earlier. We were in the game from thirty minutes onwards. We had some really good chances towards the end of the first half to make it 1-1 at half time, which would have been a different game. And we had a big chance at the start of the second half which also makes it a different game. They get the counter for 2-0 on the back of that, which is a cheap goal. The third is one we should not concede as well. but what I have repeatedly about his group of players, from there they gave everything for their country. They did not give up.

“We got the goal back quite quickly for 3-1 and when it goes 3-2 there was only one team that was going to get the next goal in my opinion. Their keeper made an unbelievable save from Scott McTominay. How that did not go in I will never know.”