Scotland manager Steve Clarke is focused on finishing their Euro 2024 qualification campaign on a high after sealing their place in Germany amid a hat-trick of defeats. A 2-0 loss in Spain was sandwiched by friendly defeats against England and France, but five wins from their opening five games in Group A proved enough for a second successive qualification for the European Championship finals after the Spaniards won in Norway. With a five-month international hiatus to follow, Clarke is eager to ensure Scotland come away from their final competitive matches with points against Georgia and Norway before next summer’s tournament in Germany. Speaking ahead of Thursday’s clash in Tbilisi, Clarke said: “The idea with the friendly matches against England and France was to test ourselves against the best and see where we measure up. “Obviously with the results we had, we still have a bit of work to do. We will try to stay humble, respect our opponents and just try to improve all the time. “Listen, we want to get back to winning ways. It’s not very often in the reign that I have had, apart from the early stages, that we have had consecutive defeats like we have had recently. “It would be nice to think in the remaining two games we can pick up more points. “I have always said we want to get as high a points tally as possible and (we have) two more games to try and do that.” Scotland have lost their previous two games in Georgia, defeats which ultimately prevented them from qualifying for Euro 2008 and 2016. Clarke’s side have shown the ability to break such negative runs, for instance securing the first play-off success and ending a 23-year wait for a major tournament appearance. “Listen, in sport what’s past is past, there is nothing we can do to affect that,” Clarke said of the history in Tbilisi. “All we can do is affect the future, the next game we play. “We have always tried to improve results no matter who we are playing against.” Georgia lost 7-1 at home to Spain in September but they beat Cyprus 4-0 in their most recent qualifier and are assured of a Euro 2024 play-off place thanks to a Nations League campaign which included big wins in Bulgaria and North Macedonia. Clarke said: “When you go away from home against a team like Georgia, it’s going to be a difficult environment, a difficult game for us, because they are a very good side. “The one game they lost heavily was against Spain and that’s a little bit of an anomaly in recent games, because all their games have been very competitive. And we expect that on Thursday night.” Clarke is without the likes of Angus Gunn, Andy Robertson, Kieran Tierney, Aaron Hickey and Che Adams, but he hopes players such as Josh Doig and Lawrence Shankland can seize the opportunity that injury list presents. “Over the course of my tenure I have always tried to look a little bit deeper,” he said. “There will be some squads like this one where we have a number of players missing. But I always say it’s a chance for someone else. “If everyone else can do better it makes my selection more difficult going into next year. The selection will be difficult. I have to find the right 23 for next summer. “For now, some boys are in the squad with the chance to make a big impression, not just on me but the rest of my staff and the rest of the country. Let’s see how they perform in the game.” Hearts goalkeeper Zander Clark and Motherwell captain Liam Kelly are vying for competitive debuts after both played 45 minutes against France to win their first caps. Clarke, who also has Rangers reserve Robby McCrorie in his squad, was not giving anything away on his stand-in choice. Speaking from Scotland’s training camp in Antalya, Turkey, he said: “The three goalkeepers have trained very well, as they always do, and between now and kick-off I will obviously have to choose one.” Read More Francis Ngannou ranked as top-10 heavyweight by WBC after impressive debut Niall Huggins excited to make Wales bow following ‘horrendous’ period Virat Kohli hits record century as India post huge score in semi-final Jon Rahm says it is ‘mainly my fault’ that he cannot catch Rory McIlroy in Dubai Man arrested over death of ice hockey player Adam Johnson bailed by police Ex-Chelsea keeper Petr Cech joins Belfast Giants as ‘temporary emergency cover’

President Volodymyr Zelensky said it was only a "matter of time" before Ukraine became an official Nato member as he met the defence bloc's chief in Kyiv. Kyiv has pushed to join Nato despite Russia's threat. Nato secretary-general Jens Stoltenberg reiterated on Thursday that Ukraine would be a member of the trans-Atlantic military alliance. He said the bloc would stand with Kyiv as long as it takes. Mr Stoltenberg met the war-time president in Kyiv to discuss the status of the ongoing Russian war, a day after Moscow accused Ukraine's allies of helping plan and conduct last week’s missile strike on the Black Sea Fleet’s headquarters in the annexed Crimean Peninsula. "We discussed strengthening Ukraine's air defence further in order to protect people from Russian terror," Mr Zelensky said in a post on social media X, describing Nato as a "de facto" ally. He added that Mr Stoltenberg agreed to make efforts to get the bloc members to provide additional air support to protect Ukraine’s power plants and energy infrastructure that were damaged by Russian attacks. The president said he reminded Mr Stoltenberg of the persistent drone, missile and artillery attacks that often strike residential areas. At least three women were killed in the street after artillery hit a residential area in Kherson in a fresh bout of Russian attack on residential places. “In the face of such intense attacks against Ukrainians, against our cities, our ports, which are crucial for global food security, we need a corresponding intensity of pressure on Russia and a strengthening of our air defence,” Mr Zelensky said. Nato has contracts for £2.08bn in ammunition for Ukraine, including 155 mm Howitzer shells, anti-tank guided missiles and tank ammunition, Mr Stoltenberg said. He continued: "The stronger Ukraine becomes, the closer we come to ending Russia’s aggression. “Russia could lay down arms and end its war today. Ukraine doesn’t have that option. Ukraine’s surrender would not mean peace. It would mean brutal Russian occupation. Peace at any price would be no peace at all.” Mr Zelensky separately met France’s defence minister Sebastien Lecornu to discuss the supply of weapons to Ukraine. Mr Lecornu brought a delegation with 20 representatives from French defence contractors who manufacture drones, robots, artillery, ammunition and employ artificial intelligence and cybertechnology. With agency inputs Read More Ukraine-Russia war – live: Putin’s strikes kill five in Kherson and Donetsk regions Ukraine war: British national killed in action while volunteering as medic Russian figure skater Kamila Valieva's Olympic doping case will resume for two more days in November The Body in the Woods | An Independent TV Original Documentary The harrowing discovery at centre of The Independent’s new documentary

DUBAI, United Arab Emirates--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Jun 21, 2023--

MILAN (Reuters) -Volvo Cars launched its EX30 fully-electric small SUV on Wednesday with two battery options and a starting price

Western militaries are running out of ammunition to give to Ukraine, NATO and British officials warned Tuesday, as they urged the bloc's nations to ramp up production to "keep Ukraine in the fight against Russian invaders."

Miley Cyrus is a household name around the world as a pop star, but some people are just finding out that the singer had a completely different name when she was born. In a resurfaced clip from Entertainment Tonight (ET) back in 2008, the then 16-year-old mentioned how just changed her name and gave her thoughts on her original birth name too - and let's just say she wasn't a fan of it. "You've officially, legally changed your name, to what?" the reporter asked. "To Miley. What I've always been called, yeah," Cyrus replied. When asked if she had a middle name, Cyrus shared that it is Ray "just like her dad," Billy Ray Cyrus. The musician then didn't hold back her feelings about her previous birth name "Destiny Hope Cyrus," as she made a vomiting gesture, prompting laughter from the reporter. "Never again, it doesn't technically legally count!" she commented in jest. Meanwhile, in another old clip, Miley appeared on the Ellen DeGeneres Show with her father who revealed the reason behind Miley's birth name and the nickname she's now known as. "Before she was born you know I had this vision that her name should be - this is going to be long," he informed his daughter who didn't appear thrilled at the story. @unholyloz Replying to @L A Y the story behind mileys name is so precious ? #mileycyrus #miley #cyrus #fyp #viral #destinyhopecyrus "Destiny Hope Cyrus is her real name but from the time she was born she just smiled all the time, we started calling her Smiley and that evolved into Miley. He added that before Miley's birth he "felt it was her destiny to bring hope to the world." Since these clips have been making rounds recently on social media, some have shared their surprise at learning his new fact about Cyrus. One person wrote: "I never knew her real name was Destiny Hope." "I NEVER KNEW HER NAME WAS DESTINY," another person said. Someone else added: "Damn she’s got a lotta names. Destiny, Miley, Hannah," also referring to her Disney role as Hannah Montana. "You learn something new everyday," a fourth person commented. Sign up to our free Indy100 weekly newsletter Have your say in our news democracy. Click the upvote icon at the top of the page to help raise this article through the indy100 rankings.

New York Giants quarterback Daniel Jones has been cleared to return to the lineup after missing three games with a neck injury

The mystery client who hired a detective to spy on Reno’s mayor and a county commissioner with GPS trackers has joined an appeal to the Nevada Supreme Court challenging a lower court ruling that his name be made public

Florida’s state university system is disbanding chapters of a pro-Palestinian student group it says is violating state law by aligning themselves with Hamas in the wake of an attack on Israeli citizens

'They don’t want to reinstate the conservatorship, but they might need to. People around Amanda [Bynes] fear the worst,' said a source

The statewide battles over abortion rights since the Supreme Court overturned a constitutional right to abortion have exposed another fault line across the country

Manchester City powered into the Champions League knockout stages as Erling Haaland banished fears over his fitness with a double in Tuesday's 3-0 win...