Kenny McLean admits Scotland can make no excuses after Greece defeat

Kenny McLean conceded Scotland have only themselves to blame after they threw away the chance to remain in the top tier of the Nations League.

The Scots were 1-0 up after the first leg of their play-off with Greece in Piraeus on Thursday, but they crashed to a 3-0 home defeat in the return match and were relegated to League B.

Steve Clarke’s side were booed off at full-time after being unable to muster any response to falling three behind in the opening seconds of the second half.

“The first word that comes to mind is disappointment,” said Norwich midfielder McLean.

“I’m sure it’s the same with everybody across the country, just because we put ourselves in a decent position after the first leg and then threw it away, really, because I think we did throw it away.

“We gave them their goals, and gave them a foothold in the game at half-time, and obviously when you start the second half the way we did, we gave ourselves a mountain to climb.

“We then didn’t do enough to give ourselves an opportunity in the match because we didn’t really create enough.

“They kind of controlled the game even after that, when it was 3-0. They controlled the game even when we had the ball, so we need to do more in that sense as well.”

The Scots went into Sunday’s second leg buoyed by a three-match winning streak and a four-game unbeaten run in which they had conceded only one goal.

McLean, who won his 50th cap, admitted they need to sharpen up significantly over the summer as they prepare to face Greece again in their 2026 World Cup qualification campaign later this year.

“Especially the way we’ve been going and the way we’ve always acquitted ourselves, I think when you do put a performance in so disappointing, it does surprise you a bit,” said McLean.

“It’s one we need to learn from, because we play Greece in the World Cup qualifiers, so we now know how good they are.

“They are a really good team, but as I said, we gave them a lot tonight. We’ve got a couple of games in the summer (against Iceland and Liechtenstein) that we can really work together and try and get better and improve.”