Scotland goalkeeper David Marshall feels Poland could be affected by the physical toll of their historic triumph over Germany but he does not expect any complacency to creep into the home side’s ranks in Warsaw tonight.
Poland can go six points ahead of Scotland in their European championship qualifying group if they win and Marshall believes that incentive will spur the Poles on to build on their 2-0 win over the world champions on Saturday.
The Cardiff player said: “Obviously physically it’s a quick turnaround from the Saturday game. We have been travelling and they have two games, so it might not be as bad, but physically against Germany you are going to struggle because of the amount of possession they have.
“In terms of mentality, I think the Polish players are experienced enough at that level – there are a lot of top, top players in there – that I don’t think it will affect them at all.
“They know how important it is to follow up Saturday’s result. It will put them in a great position if they can go and beat us as well. So in terms of mentality, I think that will be spot on, so it’s up to us to impose ourselves and hopefully get a victory.”
Despite the prospect of a major gap opening up after three games, Marshall does not believe it is necessarily a game Scotland must take something from.
“I think it’s impossible to say this early in the campaign,” the former Celtic player said.
“Other teams’ results are out of our control, so all we can do is concentrate on our own game and take confidence from the last 18 months. We will just look to perform as we have done.”
Scotland have won in Zagreb, Molde and Skopje under Gordon Strachan, as well as in Warsaw, when Scott Brown thundered home the only goal in a friendly in March.
Marshall feels they can repeat their heroics on the road if they continue the improvement shown.
“Obviously in that game Poland had a few players missing,” he said. “Their main attacker Robert Lewan-dowski is back as well so we’re expecting a tough game and they will be on a high after the result on Saturday.
“It’s a qualifier now, so it’s a totally different game, but hopefully the result performance we had here in March and the performance we had on Saturday can stand us in good stead and we get a good result.
“We’re going to be under pressure at times but I think we’ve got enough quality to come here and put in a positive performance and hopefully get a victory.”
Marshall played in that March friendly, with Gordon Greer and Russell Martin just ahead of him, and the same central defence might be in action again after Blackburn’s Grant Hanley failed to travel after picking up a knee injury during Scotland’s 1-0 Group D triumph over Georgia on Saturday.
“The squad has cover,” Marshall said. “Grant will be a huge miss, he was exceptional on Saturday, and has been for the last 18 months.
“But we’ll take confidence from the last result we had here and confidence from the last 18 months under the manager.”
Strachan also has Aberdeen defender Mark Reynolds and Ipswich centre back Christophe Berra as back-up.