Scotland manager Steve Clarke praised his side for showing the patience and composure to overturn a half-time deficit and defeat Republic of Ireland 2-1.

The Scots - playing their second game in 72 hours - trailed at the break to John Egan's opener at a packed-out Hampden.

But Jack Hendry's second-half header and a late Ryan Christie penalty - following Alan Browne's handball - were enough to secure a crucial victory for Clarke's side as they moved back above Ukraine at the top of Nations League Group B1 ahead of Tuesday's showdown between the two nations in Krakow.

"It was as tough a game as we expected, you could see Ireland had a clear week to prepare for the game," said Clarke.

"It took us a bit of time to get a foothold and by that time we had conceded from a set-piece which plays into Ireland's strengths as they have good pace up front and are a good counter-attacking team.

"Towards the end of the first half we had better control of the game. I said to the boys at half-time just to stay patient and keep working the ball into good areas.

"I knew eventually the game would come back to us. At half-time it was about having a little reset just to calm the boys down.

"You don't want to get them too frantic and starting to put the ball into the box from deep areas.

"Eventually we go to 1-1 and the penalty was right. If you jump for the ball like that with your hands in front and it stops the ball going goalwards, it's a penalty."

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A point against Ukraine will earn the Scots top spot in the section and promotion to Group A.

"At this moment in time I'm just thinking about what my issues (in terms of injuries) are going into the game on Tuesday, rather than thinking about the consequences," he said.

"We know we have to get a point. We know we have to go to a difficult place. We know we have to play very well.

"If we do that then we get first place in the group. Then we can talk about the rewards of being first."

Clarke lost both full-backs Kieran Tierney and Aaron Hickey to injury during the match but insisted they were both taken off for "precautionary" reasons. Tierney was replaced under doctor's orders after suffering a head knock while Hickey had a tight hamstring.

Midfielder Scott McTominay is suspended for Tuesday's match in Krakow after picking up a second Nations League booking.

"It's disappointing, for something that happened so late in the game, but we have plenty of cover, many midfield players," said Clarke. "If it has to be Ryan Jack or Kenny McLean we have good bodies to go into the midfield."

Ryan Christie, the match-winner from the penalty spot, told Premier Sports: "Yeah, that's a big win. We came into the game desperate to win for a number of reasons.

"We wanted to come away from this camp with with three wins, we obviously started on Wednesday night with one. I think the the bigger factor was was what happened in the summer in Dublin, we felt we let ourselves down and the fans down over there and we wanted to put that right, and thankfully we did.

"It was a disappointing summer, we all knew that and felt that when we came away from it, but that's why we wanted to kind of flip it on its head this camp, try and pick up some positive results. Two from two, we can't really ask more from that and we'll go again Tuesday.


"Thankfully the gaffer has kept me on penalties the last few games and we haven't seemed to get one. I was kind of waiting for the keeper to dive out of the way almost. Thankfully it goes in and thankfully we get the win."

Opening goal-scorer Hendry told Premier Sports: "Yeah, it was a good game. I thought both teams went out for the win, very competitive. I think it always is [with] Scotland versus Ireland.

"Thankfully today we came out on top but credit to Ireland, they made it difficult for us in the first half especially, but at half-time we spoke about how we could top them and thankfully we did that in the second half."

On his goal, he added: "I just followed my run. I thought I had good momentum so I followed that into the box and thankfully Ryan picked me out and I got on the end of it.

"I think it was a good point to get that goal. I think it kind of changed the momentum in the game towards us and we were able to go and get the win."