Inside the Scotland dressing room after Croatia sickener as Craig Gordon reveals exactly what was said

Craig Gordon is still a Scotland optimist despite a narrow 2-1 Nations League defeat at the hands of Croatia in Zagreb, believing his team can carry positives into their upcoming match against Portugal this Tuesday.

The 41 year old shotstopper, making his first appearance for the national side in nearly two years, watched teammate Ryan Christie net the opening goal in the 33rd minute before Croatian forward Igor Matanovic equalised shortly after. Despite a stellar save from Borna Sosa in the 70th minute, Gordon was unable to stop Andrej Kramaric from nodding in the rebound, and deep into stoppage time a VAR decision ruled out a Scottish goal, confirming an offside in the build-up involving substitute Che Adams.

With Scotland losing all three of their Nations League A fixtures by a single goal and securing just one win in their last 15 matches, Gordon still sees signs of promise as they prepare to host Portugal. Reflecting on his return between the sticks, he said: "We are disappointed because we put in a performance that we thought was worthy of taking something from the game. We had good chances but just didn't take them tonight.

"That seems to be the story of this Nations League but we have another game to look forward to now, we have another chance to get some points on the board and we have to focus on that.

"We feel as if we are playing quite well. That's the first game I've come back into it and I felt like we were in control of the game, so it was a good performance but we haven't come away with the result. We said in there (the dressing room) we need to keep going, keep doing the right things, believing in what we are trying to do.

"I think the fans could see we put everything out there to get the result and just one or two little things didn't go for us. We are not far away. It's always going to be difficult when you come against pot one teams. You are going to have play really well to get anything from a game, especially an away game.

"We need to stick with the game plan, to stick with each other and come back and show that fight again in the next game."