Norwich City midfielder Kenny McLean admits Scotland will have to do it the hard way to make history and reach the knock-out stages of the European Championship.

McLean made his second substitute appearance of the finals in Wednesday’s 1-1 draw against Switzerland, which makes their group finale against Hungary at the weekend a must-win.

The Scots can still nick one of the best third place finishes in the group stage to become the first Tartan Army squad ever to reach the knock-out phase at a major tournament.

“If there’s a hard way to do it, we’ll do it, we’re Scotland. But we’ll do it — that’s the main thing,” he said. “On Friday, we gave Germany too much space, too much respect and we let their best players run the game.

“So we’ve worked hard on the training pitch on shape and on tactics and we brought a lot of that into this game. We’ll go back and work even harder and bring some more to Stuttgart on Sunday.

“Sunday’s even bigger than this was, because we need the three points. We have to win. It was a lot better, but we can get a lot better and we will get better on Sunday.

“The deflation the other night was unreal. There was so much build up and expectations were high. Even though it was against Germany, we expected a lot from ourselves and so did everyone else because of what we’ve done previously.

“We let a lot of people down, but we took that on the chin and came out tonight fighting and firing. And that at least gives us an opportunity on Sunday.

“The goal we created (against Switzerland) showed intensity and real belief as the lads were running forward. I could see it from the bench, I was out of my seat.”

Kieran Tierney’s leg injury marred a much-improved showing from Steve Clarke’s squad with the Arsenal player stretchered off.

“KT was on gas and air in the dressing-room so it wasn’t easy to talk to him,” said McLean. “Listen, we hope he’s okay because he’s been a massive player for Scotland. If it’s the end of his tournament, it would be great to get through for him.

‘He’ll be desperate for the lads to go out there and do it. We’re a proper, tight-knit squad. Being away with the lads has been incredible, and KT is a huge character on and off the pitch. I’m sure he’ll still be there for us if he doesn’t make it.”