Scotland v Croatia: Nations League – live

The cover of tonight’s programme features Craig Gordon rendered in the style of an old-school comic-book hero. It looks good, it’s a witty conceit, and Gordon, still going at 41 after serving Scotland well in 77 previous appearances, is most certainly deserving of the honour and attention. But you do have to wonder whether the programme editor is playing fast and loose with the Football Gods, given that should anything happen to Gordon this evening, Steve Clarke will be forced to send on a debutant in either Robby McCrorie or Cieran Slicker. McCrorie, 26, has 12 appearances for Kilmarnock this season to his name, having just ended a frustrating spell at Rangers; Slicker, 22, has two League Cup appearances for his current club Ipswich on his CV, plus five EFL Trophy outings for Manchester City U21s and another for Rochdale. Should either be called upon tonight, we could have the most heartwarming rags-to-riches substitute-goalie story since Nigel Spink in the 1982 European Cup final on our hands. God speed, one and all.

Tonight’s Scotland XI is infused with a tincture o’Tees: Middlesbrough striker Tommy Conway, with five Championship goals to his name this season already, makes his first start for his country, while in-form club-mate Ben Doak is there from the off for a third game in a row. Conway is the only change from the team that started the goalless draw with Portugal last month, taking the place of the absent Torino striker Ché Adams. John McGinn, who has been in and out of the Aston Villa side recently, is perhaps surprisingly only on the bench.

Scotland: Gordon, Ralston, Souttar, Hanley, Robertson, Gilmour, McLean, Doak, McTominay, Christie, Conway.
Subs: Slicker, McCrorie, McGinn, Dykes, Shankland, Taylor, Barron, Porteous, McKenna, Armstrong, Gauld, Devlin.

Croatia: Kotarski, Jakić, Šutalo, Ćaleta-Car, Gvardiol, Modrić, Kovačić, Baturina, Petar Sučić, Luka Sučić, Kramarić.
Subs: Labrović, Ivušić, Pongračić, Moro, Pašalić, Vlašić, Perišić, Pašalić, Oršić, Sosa, Pjaca, Matanović.

Referee: Orel Tsvika Grinfeeld (Israel)
VAR: Ziv Adler (Israel)

Four matches in Group A1 have led to three defeats and one draw, but Scotland aren’t done just yet. They may be on an all-time-worst run of ten competitive fixtures without a win, six of those games lost, but they haven’t been that bad in this Nations League campaign. They’ve performed well in patches against three teams of a much higher rank; they’ve suffered more last-gasp heartache than seems strictly fair; and they’ve had absolutely no luck, a commodity even the best teams need to rely on every now and then. A positive result tonight, one that at least matches Poland’s effort in Portugal, will maintain Scotland’s faint hopes of avoiding relegation back to League B. Can they get one against the runners-up in this competition last year? It’s a big ask, but Scotland have pulled off dafter heists in the past. They’ve also gone out of many a competition with barely a whimper, but let’s focus on the positives for now. Kick-off is at 7.45pm GMT. It’s on!