Scotland forward Leigh Griffiths says his side’s poor start to the World Cup qualifying campaign left them with too much to do after their dream ended with last night’s 2-2 draw against Slovenia.
Gordon Strachan’s men needed the win in Ljubljana in to qualify for next month’s play-offs, however they fell short despite Griffiths giving them the lead in the first half.
Scotland had put themselves in contention to qualify with four wins from their final six games, after taking only four points from their opening four matches. Celtic forward Griffiths says his side was always going to be up against it.
Griffiths said: “If we don’t start off well, it will come back to bite us in the backside.
“That’s one thing the boys will look at, but we’ve finished 2017 very strongly – undefeated – so we need to take that into the next campaign. With the way we’ve played against the likes of England and Slovakia.
“We need to take those results into the next campaign. It’s going to be a sore one for a couple of days, but it was earlier results that cost us.
“It’s disappointing. We’ve put so much into the campaign, and to fall short at the final hurdle is a bitter blow. The boys can hold their heads high.”
