Steve Clarke, in his day, was no mean right-back himself. Even if, after a decade playing second fiddle to the likes of Stewart McKimmie and Richard Gough, his international career realised a mere half-dozen caps.
There may have been moments, as he pondered a straitened travelling party stripped of all obvious choices at the position, when he wondered whether it was not too late for a seventh.
Frankly, it was self-imposed.
In a time when unprecedently vast swathes of a side can be knocked out of contention at the twist of a swab, it was careless to select only two players with any experience of such a specialist role. Reckless, even, given one of those two was actively battling Covid as the squad was named.
It was not for want of options. Though talk at home focused on the three Rs – future star Ramsay, cup hero Rooney and pan-flashing Ralston – it would only have needed an educated guess by Clarke to avoid two very recent Scotland right-backs sitting redundant in Sheffield this Wednesday: Liam Palmer and Callum Paterson, the latter of whom, by potentially providing cover at both ends of the pitch, would have been a particularly useful patch to have in the kitbag.
One cannot, of course, cover all eventualities. But with Stephen O’Donnell questionable in advance, and in the knowledge that no late replacement could cross Denmark’s border, it is regrettable that the most clearly foreseeable leak was not reinforced before it could spring and cause a shambolic rejig of Scotland’s defence.
With the pre-match chat all about Scotland’s wing backs, if it was a coincidence that the quickfire goals were scored behind them by both of Denmark’s then it was a particularly unfortunate one. Full strength Scotland may well have lost anyway, but they didn’t help themselves.
