Soccer

Lyndon Dykes believes ‘massive characters’ will help Scotland turn around form

The Scots have won just one of their last 15 matches.

Lyndon Dykes, left, played in Scotland’s defeat to Croatia
Lyndon Dykes, left, played in Scotland’s defeat to Croatia (PA Wire/PA)
By Ronnie Esplin, PA

Lyndon Dykes is confident Scotland will turn their form around as they recover from late despair in Croatia to prepare for Portugal.

Steve Clarke’s men thought they had scored a dramatic last-gasp equaliser in their Nations League game in Zagreb on Saturday night only for VAR to flag up an offside which left the home side with a 2-1 win.

After three League A Group 1 fixtures, the Scots are bottom of the section and go into the game against table-topping Portugal at Hampden Park on Tuesday night with one win in their last 15 matches.

However, Dykes stressed his trust in the Scotland camp, shorn of a dozen players through injury for this month’s double-header, and believes that improvement in results is impending.

The 29-year-old Birmingham striker said: “We believe so much. We’ve had such a good run for a long time but it was never just going to be easy for us.

“But this is when it shows the characters of the boys, in each person that we have in this squad.

“A lot of new faces, but like I said, this is the time when it shows what characters we have in the team and we’ve got massive characters in there, so I’m sure it will turn around. I believe in and trust all my team-mates, coaching staff, everyone.

“I think it’s only a matter of time before we can turn it around. And luckily enough, we’ve got a game coming up on Tuesday, which obviously isn’t going to be easy again. But we’ve done it before and we can do it again.

“Football is tough when you’re on a long run and you’re not winning games. Especially after the results that we did have, winning and changing the way that the Scotland national team had been for years.

“It isn’t going well but we’ve still got the same players, the same characters, plus new ones that have been and done it before against big teams. It’s just one of those things at the moment, that it’s tough, but we’re going to get through it.”

Scotland took the lead in the Stadion Maksimir in the 33rd minute with a Ryan Christie goal but Croatia striker Igor Matanovic levelled three minutes later before Andrej Kramaric headed in from close range in the 70th minute to put the home side ahead.

Scotland finished the game strongly and in the fifth minute of added time had the ball in the net through the help of substitute Che Adams only for VAR to bring celebrations to a halt.

As he looked forward to facing Portugal, who are top with nine points from three games including a 2-1 win over Scotland in Lisbon, Dykes said: “It just doesn’t seem to be going our way at the moment.

“Again, we had a good performance, but we came out with no points to show from it. But there is positives in there. In the top group, the little things that maybe you need on your side that you don’t get, makes it tough.

“I’m super-proud of the boys. We played well. We could maybe do better on the goals that we conceded. But I’m still super-proud of everyone, and we have to make sure we keep going because it will change.

“But at the moment, it just isn’t going for us. That’s football. It can be harsh sometimes. But like I said, there is a lot of positives there. We have fresh faces coming in, which is showing change and we’re still playing well.

“We have to just make sure we’re all together as we are, because we’re a massive family.”