SCOTLAND supporters have been urged to give Alex McLeish the time he needs to build a team capable of qualifying for the finals of a major tournament by one of the seven new players he capped.
McLeish oversaw a morale-boosting 1-0 victory over Hungary in an international friendly in the Groupama Arena in Budapest on Tuesday evening.
The triumph silenced the ultra-critical members of the Tartan Army who had been unhappy with the display of the national team in the 1-0 defeat to Costa Rica at Hampden on Friday night.
Barry Douglas, the Wolves left back, was one of the players who was handed his Scotland debut during the course of the double header.
Jack Hendry, Oliver McBurnie, Kevin McDonald, Scott McTominay, Scott McKenna and Jamie Murphy also made their first appearances for their country.
Douglas was pleased that McLeish, who was appointed Scotland manager for a second time last month, racked up the first victory of his tenure.
The 28-year-old understands that he used the Costa Rica and Hungary games to experiment with different formations and look at players as he looks towards the inaugural Nations League later on this year.
The former Queen’s Park and Dundee United man has appealed to fans to remain patient and appreciate what the manger is trying to achieve.
“It is always nice to get a win,” said Douglas. “But the result wasn’t the most important thing. Having two friendlies was a chance to blood a lot of new players. It was a new style we were playing as well. It was good to have games to get used to that.
“Possibly fans have expectations that are too great. They have that winning mentality, they want their team to win every game. But that is a positive thing to have.
“But these things to take time. It is difficult for all the new guys coming in with that expectation. Sometimes you need to just try and get used to the new style and see how we perform and take it from there.”
Douglas, the former Queen’s Park and Dundee United defender, is playing for Wolves, who are six points clear at the top of the English Championship and are hoping to clinch promotion to the Premier League.
He admitted he had enjoyed working under McLeish, who left out experienced players like Christophe Berra, Chris Martin, James McArthur and Robert Snodgrass in order to look at those pushing for selection, during the double header.
“I didn’t speak to him individually in my time away with Scotland, but just being involved in training and seeing the different ways he wants to play was a change from what I do at my club,” he said.
“It is always good to add more strings to your bow, get used to the demands of different managers and adapt to their different styles of play.”
Douglas, whose chances of establishing himself as a first choice regular with Scotland are complicated by the presence of both Kieran Tierney of Celtic and Andy Robertson of Liverpool, admitted he was unsure if he would be involved in the end-of-season tour of Peru and Mexico.
“We will see what happens come the end of the season,” he said. “I don’t know what our schedule at Wolves is going to be. We just need to enjoy the present. All I am thinking about at the moment is a final push for promotion with Wolves. Hopefully we can keep things going and achieve our goal.”
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