DAVID Marshall’s heroics in Belgrade ended two decades of disappointment but the lingering psychology of failed campaigns is tougher to repel.

Scotland have a European Championship campaign to look forward to this summer but the here and now is about the World Cup qualifiers as Steve Clarke’s side aim to make sure that progress is a constant.

To that end, Marshall has echoed the sentiments of Manchester United’s Scott McTominay as he has called for a bit more arrogance about the national side. The opening draw with Austria showcased a resilience about Scotland as they twice forced their way back into the game. Laudable, but it still leaves them needing to make up the lost ground somewhere along the way.

“Scott’s at a top club, so he probably carries a bit of that [arrogance],” said Marshall. “We’ve had relative success in qualifying, so it’s something we could show a bit more. The other night the goals changed the game and if we get the first it gives us that confidence – but maybe starting the game better with that bit of belief. It took us a while to get to grips with the game the other night and if we’d started with a bit more confidence, as Scotty said, it would probably stand us in good stead.”

A win against Israel this evening would be welcome in terms of adding belief to the squad but won’t come easily. Scotland are well versed in the demands of the Israelis given the five meeting that have taken place since 2018.

“We go to win the game,” said Marshall. “We know Israel really well and every game’s been tight. We’ve not beaten them in a while, the playoff went to penalties, but we go there to win. You look to win home games and they have had a poor start, we know them inside out, all their strengths and weaknesses and it’s a game we’ll be looking to win ourselves.

“We [lost 1-0 in last game]but I thought performance-wise we did okay coming off the back of the high of the playoff win. The games after that good.

“The game straight after [Slovakia] was exceptional because we missed a lot of chances. Results-wise no, but the performances were okay but this is the big one now and it’s a real chance for us to get three points.”

From a club perspective Marshall has been getting accustomed to working under Wayne Rooney at Derby in what has been a tumultuous few months. However, with England hosting Scotland at Wembley in this summer’s European Championships there is bound to be a bit of fun between the two.

“He’s not mentioned it to be fair,” said Marshall. “He did say that the Serbia game was the only he had ever switched over and watched Scotland before England. I am sure that will come. We have some work to do at Derby to finish our season off and then I am sure there will be a bit of banter come that time, a few text messages.

“He’s been great. It’s been difficult for him. We’ve been going through a transition with the ownership stuff which broke down in January and with Philip Cocu leaving as manager mid-season when Wayne was still playing it’s  been difficult.

“We had a really good start when he came in and just in the last six or seven games we’ve had a few injuries and it has culminated in a drop in form. I think everybody should be fit when go back and we can get back to form that he had us in initially, which I think was top six in the form table. We should have enough quality there and this break came at a good time for us to get everybody back fit.”