Scotland: How Nathan Patterson led the charge for Scots' young team against Poland

"You can't win anything with kids."

That fabled phrase from Alan Hansen has been trotted out more times than the Scotland World Cup 98 VHS tape round at Craig Brown's house over the years, usually after a string of young bucks have gone and won something...

And while Steve Clarke's Scots aren't competing for silverware, well not yet anyway, the youthful look of the current national team is providing not just optimism for a potential Qatar quest, but for the years to come.

So, on the back of a promising 1-1 draw with Poland and much to look forward to, is the future bright for the team in dark blue?

There were plenty stand-out performances from Scotland in Thursday's 1-1 friendly draw with Poland. None more so than rampaging right-back Nathan Patterson.

The Everton man lit up a raucous Hampden in the first half, always willing to drive forward. After 10 minutes, a marauding run saw him slalom through the Polish defence, while he again found himself deep in opposition territory when he twice went close in a frantic scramble.

For so long Motherwell captain Stephen O'Donnell was Clarke's go-to guy on the right flank, but the performances of 20-year-old Patterson for Rangers prior to his move to Goodison suggested a real up-and-coming gem.

However, only 45 minutes of first team football have been played since he moved to Merseyside in the January window.

But against the Poles, his stats stood up well. His passing rate sat at 91%, the second highest behind Callum McGregor on 92%. He had the second most shots in the game (three), the most efforts on target and the joint-highest number of touches in the opposition box.

"Nathan Patterson was good but I knew he would be because he's working with good Premier League level players at Everton," said the Scotland manager afterwards.

"If he's training hard and working well, he's always got minutes in his legs. I took him off, saw him stretching, and I want some more minutes out of him on Tuesday night."

Energy was one of the main characteristics of Scotland's dynamic performance against Poland.

The average age of the starting line-up was 26 years and 274 days. That's 141 days younger than the side which beat Serbia in Belgrade to clinch a spot at last year's Euros.

That may not sound like a lot, but given David Marshall was four years younger that night than Craig Gordon is now, the outfield age drops that bit lower. In fact, take away the 39-year-old goalie, and Scotland's outfield 10 are even more fresh faced.

Billy Gilmour (20) was another revelation - as he has been since starring against England last summer - while Aaron Hickey (19) and Jacob Brown (23) both were among the substitutes to get a run out.

Former Scotland manager Craig Levein

I really like when Scotland come down the right. Nathan Patterson has got the better of his opposite man, we just need to keep feeding him the ball.

His attacking skills are probably the best part of the his game. In a game with wing-backs where you're trying to attack down the sides, he's very, very useful.

Tom English, BBC Scotland's chief sports writer

Steve Clarke has options. He has different ways he can go now. He will have to leave out good players. Aaron Hickey came into the mix and very, very soon, he will be a live contender. It is really positive.

The performance was decent. Kieran Tierney was brilliant. Billy Gilmour was excellent. There were an awful lot of good things in that. They've lost that winning run, but the momentum continues, and it will need to continue. Scotland are in a good place.