‘It’s not easy’ – the thankless task of being a Scotland striker

Of the players selected to start in Copenhagen by Clarke, his strikers were ranked the lowest by BBC Sport readers, as the above graphic shows.

When asked about his deployment of the rugged forward duo, Clarke said; “If I am not brave, I might as well not be in the job.”

Fortune favours the brave, and in this case, the Scotland head coach was the winner.

Adams has came off the bench in Torino’s opening two Serie A games, while Dykes – who was linked with a deadline day move to Scottish Premiership side Hibernian – has mustered up a measly 23 Championship minutes in Birmingham’s first four games.

At times that rust was evident, but their exuberance couldn’t be questioned.

Dykes in particular was a menace. It was a throwback to his best days in a dark blue jersey where, full of commitment, he challenged for every long ball, hauled his team up the park and preoccupied the Danish defence.

It appears the bulk of that work goes unnoticed when a striker isn’t scoring.

Dykes hasn’t netted an international goal since he started the famous comeback against Norway in Oslo over two years ago, while Adams’ hat-trick against Liechtenstein were his first Scotland goals in just over a year after scoring against Gibraltar before the Euros.

“Strikers, ultimately, are always judged on their goals,” Thompson said.

“It’s not easy but ultimately you know your job for the team.

“They need service, which there wasn’t a lot of, but what I saw as someone who has been there, and what Clarke will have seen is their work-rate and what they do outwith scoring goals. And it’s quite a lot.

“I thought they did more than well enough in the game, particularly Dykes.

“They pressed well and didn’t allow the Denmark defenders to have an easy night. They were physical and put themselves about.”