Steve Clarke believes Scotland have shown they are ready to compete among Europe's best after securing back-to-back wins in UEFA Nations League Group A1.

Scotland's John McGinn opened the scoring within three minutes following brilliant play from Ben Doak, and they had chances to extend their lead before Kamil Piatkowski netted his first goal for Poland to equalise on the hour mark.

It was an end-to-end encounter, which reflected the several permutations affecting where Scotland would finish their Nations League campaign.

But it was captain Andy Robertson that headed home John Souttar's cross deep into second half stoppage time to claim a second successive victory. It also means Scotland avoid automatic relegation from their section.

As it stands they will go into a play-off next March and will feature in Pot 3 for World Cup qualifying, yet if results go in their favour over the coming days then Pot 2 is still a possibility. 

(Image: Rafal Oleksiewicz - PA)

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Clarke had a beaming smile on his face come the full-time whistle in Warsaw and he's eager for Scotland to remain among Europe's elite beyond this tournament.

"I'm really pleased for my staff, I'm really pleased for the supporters so it's a good way to end this part of the Nations League campaign," said the Scotland head coach. 

"Obviously we've got a little bit longer now that we've managed to secure a play-off. We look forward to the games in March."

Robertson netted in the 93rd minute, and Clarke insists he never doubted Scotland's ability to find the all-important winner as he praised Souttar’s pin-point delivery.

"You always believe," he explained. "It was a very open game, a lot of chances.

"We always felt one more chance would come, maybe not from the source it actually came from but it was a fantastic cross from John Souttar, who was outstanding defensively, and a great header from the captain.

"When you look towards the end of the game, we made five changes. I think the depth of the squad is good. We're still missing another three or four players who can probably add to that. Hopefully going into next year they can get back fit and make my job more difficult.

"There's been a lot of good moments over my five-and-a-half years and this is just another step on the journey.

"We knew we'd have to be at our best to get a result. This is another place we can say we know how to go away from home and get a positive result in a difficult environment.

"We started with three defeats, three narrow defeats, with good performances. The players didn't lose belief, I didn’t lose belief in the players and they end up taking seven points from the last three games which gets us into the play-off.

"We want to go to another tournament. The play-off in March to stay at the highest level of the Nations League will set us up for a tough World Cup qualifying campaign. We are ready for it."

(Image: Rafal Oleksiewicz - PA) There had been much discussion about whether Doak would start the match following his manager's remarks on Sunday night. 

Asked if was glad that he chose to unleash the 19-year-old prodigy again, Clarke replied: "Obviously. Another assist for Ben which is good. I think he tired quite quickly in the second half so I should have maybe taken him off a little earlier. But he's a threat, he's very direct, and he gets at defender's.

"Having been a full-back myself, I know when you've got a winger who gets at you like that, he makes it difficult for defender's and he brings us something a little bit different." 

(Image: Rafal Oleksiewicz - PA) Meanwhile, under-pressure Poland boss Michal Probierz reflected on the match by suggesting his side put a lot of effort into the tie and was gutted they couldn't hold out for a point. 

"This game cost us a lot of energy," he said during his post-match press conference. 

"We got some injuries too, like Jakub Kaminski. In general it was good game from us, we just needed one minute to hold on. Unfortunately, we did not. 

"It is a very painful lesson both for the players and me. But we will continue to work with a clear aim, to qualify to World Cup finals."