Steve Clarke teased the Tartan Army ahead of this first warm-up game for the Euros by suggesting he would be trying ‘something a little different’, setting social media ablaze with theories about what the
Shankland was playing his part, too. There have been doubts about his athleticism and question marks surrounding whether his mobility would allow him to effectively lead the line for his country, but he was working hard early on, pressing Nathan Ake into a couple of errors and winning a couple of handy free kicks.
The reason why so many Scottish football fans have been keen to see Shankland drafted into the Scotland side is because of his predatory instincts in the penalty area, which for all the qualities that both Lyndon Dykes and Che Adams bring to the party, marks him out as different to either. From there, he rather flitted in and out of the match either side of Tijjani Reijnder’s opening goal until Scotland’s hugely effective high press forced a couple of errors from the Dutch backline.
This time, it was McTominay who forced the error, deflecting Mats Wieffer’s attempted pass into Shankland’s path, and the striker was in. He had time to size up his finish, but only found the top of Flekken’s bar when you would have put your house on him gobbling up at the opportunity.