Friday 22 March 2019 07:43, UK
Alex McLeish is confident Scotland can bounce back from their humiliation in Kazakhstan and swiftly rebuffed talk of leaving his role as manager.
McLeish described the 3-0 defeat at the Astana Arena as "horrible", with Scotland 2-0 down inside 10 minutes and unable to recover as they slumped to defeat in their opening European Qualifier.
Scotland came into the game boosted by the knowledge they will have a play-off place for Euro 2020, thanks to their group success in the Nations League, but defeat to the world's 117th ranked team provoked strong reaction from the travelling Tartan Army with McLeish bearing the brunt of it.
But, asked if the result would affect his Scotland future, McLeish said: "I will just continue to do my job. Suffice to say I'm not going to get drawn into that question.
"I don't really rank defeats. I just feel in terms of losing I have to bounce back. I always feel low after a game but as I've said I'm pretty good at bouncing back."
Scotland's next game comes against the world's lowest-ranked team - San Marino - and McLeish expects a quick reaction from his squad, one which is lacking a number of experienced players through injury.
"We bounced back from a poor performance in Israel and that's what we must do after this game. It's never finished until it's finished," McLeish added.
"We have other players to come back, players with more experience who have to come back to the Scotland squad. Obviously we need to have as strong a squad as we can if we're going to be strong in qualification.
"We have introduced a few new names in the last year or so and it's a process where it can take time but I know we don't have any time.
"I want to get these lads playing to the level that we demand on the international scene but it's not easy for players to come from no experience straight into the international team."
