SCOTLAND right back Stephen O’Donnell last night admitted that switching from a back three to a back four in the second-half had helped them salvage a draw from their Qatar 2022 qualifier against Israel in Tel Aviv.

O’Donnell and his team mates were outplayed by their hosts in the first-half and fell behind a minute before half-time when they conceded a long-range strike to Dor Peretz.

However, manager Steve Clarke took off centre half Jack Hendry, put on Ryan Christie, changed his formation and Ryan Fraser had soon levelled.

“It allowed us tactically to impose ourselves a bit more,” said Motherwell defender O’Donnell.  “It’s disappointing because we you pick the team you want to do a lot better as a back three or five. But going to the four we moved it about.

“It’s the second game we’ve changed shape and it shows you the tactical nous of the manager. But as a set of players, we shouldn’t be needing to change shape. We should be able to get a foothold in the game, but thankfully the changes paid dividends in the second half.”

He added: “We started off similar to the Austria game and didn’t get it going. We’ve now played here often enough to know what Israel are all about and they imposed themselves on the game. It was frustrating to go behind.

“That’s the third time in a row, but we showed commitment and application to come back into it again but need to stop giving teams an advantage. I thought second half, it was a very good performance against a very good Israel side.

“I’ve played them three times and the way they move the ball is very good. I don’t know why they are where they are in the world rankings because they have some very good players, but so do we and we are disappointed with the draw.”