We’ve hurt big nations before and we can do it again in World Cup qualifiers, insists bullish Scotland boss Steve Clarke after stroll in Vaduz

Steve Clarke challenged his players to raise their game against top opponents after they comfortably saw off minnows Liechtenstein in Vaduz.

A Che Adams hat-trick and George Hirst’s first Scotland goal ensured the team bounced back from last Friday’s dire display against Iceland at Hampden.

Severely criticised in the wake of the 3-1 loss, the four-goal victory ensured the pressure eased on the embattled manager ahead of the World Cup qualifiers starting in September.

Drawn with Denmark, Belarus and Greece in Group C, Clarke will hope for a fast start when the Scots travel to Copenhagen for the opener on September 5.

He believes his players must take heart from the fact they’ve already shown they can take points from some of the best nations in Europe.

‘It’s still a disappointing camp because we didn’t play as we can play in the home game at Hampden,’ said Clarke.

‘There was a little bit of hurt and anger in the dressing room. You saw that in the first 25 minutes when the players were really on it. Hopefully, we can harness that and take it into the autumn games. Like I said, these two friendlies have no bearing.

‘If you look at the Nations League final between Portugal and Spain, in recent times this Scotland team have shown how competitive they can be against that type of team. What we have to do is make sure when it comes to September, October, November, we’re very competitive again.’

Adams struck inside just four minutes, with Clarke insisting he was always confident his players would get the job done.

‘I know my players, I trust my players. I’ve had a couple of disappointments, and they’ve always shown the resilience to come back and do what they can do. This has no bearing on what’s going to happen later in the year, but it’s nice to finish this camp with a nice win.’

Unusually, Clarke shaped with a 4-4-2, Adams and Hirst playing as strike partners. Delighted both got on the score sheet, he didn’t rule out the possibility of going with an offensive formation in the future.

‘Really pleased for Che. Strikers need goals. It’s been a little while since he got one, so I knew he was desperate to score.

‘He gets an early one which releases the tension a little bit. I left him on because I knew he’d be desperate for that hat-trick and thankfully he got it right on the final kick. Obviously, the assist for George is big as well, so we play two strikers and both score. It’s not the first time I’ve done it. If you think way back when Lyndon Dykes and Che would be a front two for me, so it’s something we’ve used before.’

On his first start for his country, teenager Lennon Miller was another star turn, while Clarke also handed debuts to Ross Doohan, John Doig, Connor Barron, Andy Irving and Kieron Bowie.

‘It’s always nice to manage to get a few more first caps onto the pitch. So, that’s all about building the squad for the future,’ he said. ‘Obviously, we’ve got the boys we rely on now, but you look at the end picture on the pitch, there’s a lot of inexperienced internationals and hopefully over the coming years, they’ll start to pick up more and more caps.’

Clarke confirmed assistant John Carver is leaving the set-up after being offered the Lechia Gdansk job on a permanent basis.