Pedro Martinez Losa says Scotland can't rely on others for a World Cup play-off place

Scotland women’s boss Pedro Martinez Losa says they can’t worry about other teams’ results as they push for second spot and a place in the World Cup play-offs.

Scotland are a point ahead of third placed Hungary ahead of Friday’s clash with Ukraine in Poland. They’ll finish their campaign against the Faroe Islands later this year.

“I think we have the situation in our hands,” Martinez Losa said. “That’s what we want to do and we don’t want to be at the point where we depend on the results of other national teams.

“At the moment, a positive result against Ukraine would continue that and the situation would be in our hands and that’s what we are working for.”

The sides met at Hampden when Ukraine took the lead after just 22 minutes but Scotland rescued a point when Abigail Harrison headed in a 93rd minute equaliser.

Martinez Losa expects an even tougher Ukraine team to challenge Scotland this time around, but believes his side can take heart from the chances they created in that match and are capable of winning.

“That was the first game that Lluis Cortes was in charge and we would expect a side that has developed more into the principles and identity of the coach, a team that has improved,” he said.

“We learned also about the two sides of football. It was a draw and one group was considering we were unlucky, the other considering the opposite. So there’s always two stories to a game.

“We thought we deserved it more but it was also up to us to make it happen. We were lucky to score the goal at the end but I think we deserved it from what we put into the game and it should have been enough to win.

“I think we have to be more critical in the final third and we have plenty of opportunities and space in behind.

“We also have to keep concentration when games are close and not make defensive mistakes.It can cost us games and it can cost us goals.”