Steve Clarke revealed his surprise and disappointment after hearing some boos from the Tartan Army following Scotland’s 1-0 defeat by Japan at Hampden.
The Scots were cheered off the pitch in November after a dramatic 4-2 win over Denmark qualified them for the World Cup finals for the first time since 1998.
However, their return to the national stadium for the first of their warm-up games for North America was more sedate.
Both sides hit the woodwork in the first half but Hajime Moriyasu’s visitors got the breakthrough in the 84th minute through substitute Junya Ito and the home fans revealed their frustration at the end.
Asked if he was surprised by the reaction of the fans, Clarke said: “Yes and it disappointed me to be honest. It’s just the modern way, it seems to be now if you lose a game you get booed. You have just got to deal with it. It disappoints me.”
The visitors, on their way to their eighth successive World Cup finals, survived an early fright.
In the eighth minute Scott McTominay had a terrific chance to open the scoring when fellow midfielder John McGinn teed him up with a cross from the right but his unconvincing shot from 10 yards was pushed on to the post by Japan keeper Zion Suzuki and away to safety.
Moments later at the other end, Joel Fujita was given time and space to send in a powerful drive from 30 yards which tested Gunn, who saved a long-distance effort from Kodai Sano just before the half-hour mark.
The home side defended a series of corners as Japan tightened their grip and in the 38th minute Sano clipped the top of the bar with a side-footed drive from inside the box. The match went back and forth.
Gunn thwarted Yuito Suzuki as Japan broke with purpose before a McTominay header was saved by Suzuki just before the break with the Napoli playmaker seeing his free-kick from 25 yards tipped over the bar by the Parma keeper early in the second half.
Suzuki then parried a drive from Robertson past the post as Scotland stepped up the pace.
Ryan Christie and George Hirst replaced McGinn and Lyndon Dykes just after the hour mark before one of Japan’s many substitutes, Kaoru Mitoma came close with a shot from the edge of the box following a cleared corner, with Gunn denying Ito moments later.
The visitors’ threat intensified and Scotland midfielder Kenny McLean cleared a dinked shot from Ito off the line in the 69th minute before Hirst hit the side netting with a drive.
Findlay Curtis replaced Conway to make his debut in the 80th minute but four minutes later Genk midfielder Ito burst into the Scotland box to beat Gunn from 12 yards and end the stalemate.
Scotland will face Ivory Coast at Everton’s Hill Dickinson on Tuesday night as further preparation for the World Cup group games against Haiti, Morocco and Brazil in the summer.
Clarke, who expects to make six or seven changes to the side on Merseyside, believes that playing top nations in warm-up games is crucial in order to show his players the level required in North America.
He said: “It not a game that you want to lose. But I think there’s enough in that game against the opposition we played against to still feel positive about what we’re trying to do.
“We have another really tough game on Tuesday night in Liverpool against Ivory Coast. Sometimes, I think my players look at me and say ‘come on gaffer what are you doing?’ I always try to pick difficult friendlies.
“So another difficult one on Tuesday night and we’ll try and get a positive result to carry it forward, but if the performance is as good and you can take things from the performance, you can also carry that forward as well.
“That’s why we take the games. This is where you have to be at. This is this is the level you have to reach and if you want to get the points that are going to get you out of the group stage, you have to play to that standard.”
PA
