Scotland full back Andrew Robertson has admitted he would have traded his first international goal for a shut-out against the Auld Enemy on Tuesday night.
The 20-year-old, who has gone from strength to strength after making his big money move south from Dundee United in the summer, marked his fifth appearance at senior level by getting on the scoresheet against England in the 3-1 defeat at Celtic Park.
Speaking on a return to his old primary school in Clarkston yesterday though, Robertson revealed that the pleasure of opening his account for his country had been sorely tempered by a night of sobering disappointment for the Tartan Army.
“I was delighted to get a goal and obviously against England it was a nice feeling,” he explained.
“But it would have been much better if it was a winning goal and first and foremost I’m a defender, so I was more disappointed with my defending than happy with the goal.
“Obviously your first goal for Scotland is a proud moment for you and everyone involved with you, but I couldn’t really enjoy it.
“My family enjoyed it but if you gave me no goal and a clean sheet I would have taken that any day.
“There’s probably no harsher critic than myself and although I scored the most disappointing thing was that I didn’t fulfil my duties for their two goals.
“The first goal I was disappointed with myself.
“At half-time, looking at it, I should have followed Alex Oxlade-Chamberlain into the box, but at half-time you just need to put it to the back of your mind.
“The second goal, it hit off my shin and 99 out of 100 times it wouldn’t have fallen so kindly to someone as deadly as Wayne Rooney.
“It went right to his head and he’s slotted it right into the goal.
“I reacted as quickly as I could, but I couldn’t really do much more with the second goal.
“It was only on Tuesday night and it’s still a bit sore – I actually woke up after the game and I forgot I had scored, I only got reminded off my mum.
“There was a wee bit tossing and turning in my sleep just thinking about the game and how I can improve defensively.
“But I’m only 20 so it’s a learning curve and hopefully I can improve and get back to my best.”
Few would begrudge England their victory on what was a bittersweet night for Robertson, but the Hull City defender dismissed suggestions the gulf in class is insurmountable.
“We never showed up and they were the better team from start to finish,” he continued.
“The most annoying thing is that nobody can complain about the result.
“We showed a few glimpses but not enough, I think England were probably playing at the top of their game and we didn’t get going.
“But if we could have got going I think we could have caused them some problems.
“When I got the goal, I thought we might have had a chance.
“There were 10 minutes to go, 2-0 is probably the worst scoreline for any football team and we managed to get it back to 2-1.
“We definitely thought that if we could get one more chance and we take it then that’s us got a draw.
“But obviously they went straight up the park and scored again.
“Wayne Rooney was the difference I think he was consistent throughout and when he made it 3-1 that sealed the game.
“They’ve got top four Premiership players and I think we only had two or three in the starting 11 but that’s not the issue.
“We didn’t play as well as we could have and, if we did, I think you would have seen a lot fairer game.
“Hopefully if we get to play them again soon we’ll show that.”
Some pundits also suggested that Scotland looked mentally and physically weary in having to raise their game for England’s visit, just days after a high pressure clash with the Republic of Ireland.
Again though, Robertson rejected that notion.
He added: “People can argue that but I don’t think we’re looking for any excuses.
“The boys in the changing room were bitterly disappointed that we didn’t perform to the best of our ability, and that was the most important thing.
“Nobody could complain that England deserved their win, and we’re not looking for excuses.
“Friday was a massive game but we should have had time to recover and it was just a poor performance.
“I think the main aim when we met up last Sunday was to get the three points against Ireland and stay in the pack for Euro 2016 qualifying.
“Qualifying is the main aim, but the England game has put a little bit of a dampener on the whole weekend.
“If we had performed to our best it would have been a much tighter game.”
After two games between the sides in two years, calls for the Scotland v England clash to become a fairly regular fixture will no doubt continue and Robertson sees no reason why it shouldn’t.
“I think it was a great occasion, the fans turned out in their numbers and we’re just disappointed we didn’t send them home happy,” he concluded.
“England brought up a good support which is good for them and if the game happens again then hopefully we can get a good result.”