Scotland assistant makes target clear ahead of Lithuania clash
Mark McGhee has laid it on the line for Scotland - any more slip ups and your World Cup dream is over.
Last updated 30th Aug 2017
Gordon Strachan's right-hand man admits the national team must end their qualifying campaign with four straight wins if they are to have any hope of reaching Russia next summer.
The Scots sit fourth in Group F and McGhee believes only a perfect 12 points from 12 will give them a chance of sneaking past rivals Slovakia and Slovenia to clinch second behind unbeaten leaders England.
Speaking ahead of Friday night's clash with Lithuania in Vilnius, McGhee said: "We simply can't afford anymore mistakes. That is the position we're in and there's no hiding from that.
"I'm not going to sit here and say,"'Oh if they slip up and we do this or that we might have a chance'.
"I think we have to assume we have to win all four games, so we'll roll our sleeves up starting on Friday night."
But while Strachan's men face an uphill struggle to climb back onto the kind of major stage they have not graced since 1998, McGhee reckons the fixture list does provide them with scope to built up momentum.
After Friday's showdown with a team bossed by former Hearts frontman Edgaras Jankauskas, Scotland then welcome Malta to Hampden on Monday.
McGhee hopes they can take maximum points from those two clashes and set up a dramatic section finale with Slovakia due in Glasgow on October 5 before a potentially decisive trip to Slovenia three days later.
"When I was a club manager I always said that the fixtures can affect your season," explained the former Motherwell boss.
"I remember my first season back at Motherwell and I had the players in training on a Sunday before certain matches. If you win games the players will believe that's the right thing to do.
"We were fortunate that while someone like Hibs were playing Celtic, Rangers and Hearts, we had all the teams we imagined we should be beating like Gretna, Inverness, St Mirren.
"We had a run were we racked up something like 13 points from 15. We probably weren't playing any better than Hibs but we did have to face the opposition they were.
"What it did do, though, was give us a huge leg up and huge belief. So it can be the same here and we have got to belief that we can roll up the confidence.
"To have what on paper looks like the less difficult games at the end of the campaign is the right order. There is no doubt if we win these two games this weekend we will take some beating in the last couple."
Belief inside the Scotland camp has ratcheted up a couple of notches in the wake of their spirited showing against England back in June.
Harry Kane denied them a famous win with his last-gasp equaliser but McGhee says now that Scotland have shown they can go toe-to-toe with of the world's best players, they have no excuse for dropping their standards against so-called minnows like the Lithuanians.
He said: "We will have to work out what is going to work out best against Lithuania - but then apply it with the same energy and enthusiasm we showed against England.
"Nothing changes in that sense. We set a standard against England and there is no excuse for us not to bring that same determination to any other performance, regardless of the tactics or the set-up.
"The starting point has to be a determination to work harder than the opposition.
"We disappointed when we drew with Lithuania at Hampden last October. We picked a team that night and looked at three or four individuals who we hoped would win us the game. But those players in an attacking sense didn't do terribly well.
"So that was the disappointing thing. It wasn't so much about Lithuania that night, it was more about ourselves.
"I don't think they're better than they were a year ago - but I think we are.
"They are at home, they have lost a consecutive games so they will be playing for pride, so I don't think we can under-estimate them. But I don't think anything has changed to say they have got an awful lot better than they were a year ago.