Gordon Strachan insists Scotland will not put on another “freak” show when they take on Serbia in their 2014 World Cup qualifier in Novi Sad.
The Tartan Army boss and his squad arrived in Belgrade still unable to fathom out their woeful start to Friday night’s 2-1 defeat to Wales at Hampden Park a result which kept them rooted to the bottom of Group A with two points from five games.
Although Scotland recovered in part from their early hesitancy to lead through a Grant Hanley goal scored just before the break, Chris Coleman’s side bounced back after the break to end any hopes the Tartan Army might have had of making Brazil next summer.
“It was a freak 25 minutes,” said Strachan at the pre-match press conference at the Scotland hotel.
“I can’t call it a bad 25 minutes. I thought it was freaky, what I (saw) was totally unusual. I spoke to the players and they had never seen anything like that 25 minutes anywhere in their footballing career.
“I don’t think that will ever happen again I know it won’t happen again. So I put that aside and look at the next 20 minutes which was fine, we got into a rhythm.
“The second half was fine, we looked like we were going to score and then we lose a goal and then the last 15 minutes, we didn’t really count that.
“It was a disappointment for everybody who went there on Friday night. People were scratching their heads as to what happened for the first 25 minutes, but as I say, it was a freak 25 minutes.”
Already without Darren Fletcher, Scott Brown, Ross McCormack, Danny Fox, James Forrest and James Morrison, Strachan’s squad was weakened further when defender Russell Martin withdrew with what is believed to be hamstring injury and midfielder Kris Commons stayed behind for personal reasons. Moreover, Robert Snodgrass is suspended for picking up two yellow cards against Wales.
Birmingham City defender Paul Caddis joined up with the squad whom the former Southampton, Celtic and Middlesbrough boss believes are still licking their wounds following the defeat to Wales.
“We are still in the process of making ourselves feel better and we will do that by training and putting together a plan,” he said.
“We are all hurting that’s for sure. The players realised that it was an opportunity wasted and I realised that as well.
“It is hard and the only way you can get rid of your frustrations is by playing and winning games of football. But we had a midfield group who had never played together at all.
“Some of them were playing out of position because of lack of numbers. Tomorrow, because of injuries, there will be a completely different midfield again, in terms of shape and personnel and that’s the way it is going a the moment.
“But on the bright side it gives everyone a chance and it gives me a chance to see them playing football at this level and it is a test of your character.”
The former Scotland midfielder acknowledged that Serbia lost 2-0 to rivals Croatia on Friday to leave them second-bottom on points with Macedonia.
“It is two disappointed teams that are meeting tomorrow night,” he said.
“Two teams that have to deal with disappointment and hopefully the two sides react to that disappointment and put on a good game. I know quite a bit about the Serbia team, their players are playing for the top teams in Europe.
“As a group, they are a good group.”
Strachan explained his reasons behind bringing in Caddis, who played under him at Celtic.
“We are really short on bodies and we had to decide who we can bring in, who I knew I could trust and I seen him play recently,” he said.
“He has pace, ability to beat people and is a good defender, the only thing is, like myself, he is quite short.
“I’m sure if he was six foot he would be a real top, top player but he has dealt with that and put himself into a position where I pick him.
“There are a lot of people in the treatment room, which is fair play to them, they have come across and wanted to give it a shot.”
Meanwhile Scotland could face the embarrassment of becoming the first European side to be officially eliminated from the race to qualify for the 2014 World Cup beating minnows Andorra and San Marino to the unwanted accolade.
The side inherited by Strachan will be arithmetically confirmed as being out of the running if they fail to win in Novi Sad tonight and both Croatia and Belgium win their respective matches against Wales and Macedonia.
That scenario would see the Scots knocked out first of all the Uefa countries if pointless Andorra avoid defeat away to Estonia or if neither Hungary nor Romania pick up victories in their Group D trips to face Turkey and the Netherlands, respectively.
San Marino, thrashed 8-0 by England on Friday night, are the other side facing elimination tonight but they will avoid being knocked out if they can pick up their first point of Group H in Poland or if England fail to win away to Montenegro.
With San Marino starting their match with the Poles 15 minutes after kick-off in Serbia, Scotland could still win the race no-one wants to come first in by a matter of minutes.