GORDON STRACHAN has, like Alex McLeish and Walter Smith before him, made Scotland difficult to beat since succeeding Craig Levein last year.

We saw that once again as the national team drew 2-2 with Nigeria in the friendly international at Craven Cottage on Wednesday night.

But Strachan's side is doing so much more than just shutting up shop and stopping the opposition from playing and scoring.

Scotland are performing with confidence and flair going forward as well. They could have scored a few more goals down in London.

They were playing decent opposition too. They were up against a team that was going to the World Cup in Brazil next month.

Scotland are now undefeated in six games. We are in a good place ahead of the Euro 2016 qualifiers getting underway in September.

End-of-season friendlies are usually blighted by call-offs. You usually get lots of players saying they are unavailable. That was not the case this week.

A good international team is like a club side in that everybody gets on well together. Gordon has successfully created that environment since taking charge.

Having said all that, I still think we are a bit short at the back. I believe we can be inconsistent defensively.

We could also do with a big target man up front. Steven Naismith did well in attack in midweek because he works so hard.

But there are far more positives than negatives. The Scotland fans are certainly getting behind this team. It was the best crowd at Craven Cottage all season.

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