Bradford City boss Graham Alexander is big fan of the Euros

The City boss has been an avid watcher of the drama unfolding in Germany, which is reaching the climax of the group stages.

Alexander expects England to ease through, despite Thursday’s stuttering draw with Denmark, and is keeping his fingers crossed that his beloved Scotland can follow suit and make it through to the knock-outs for the first time.

“I think it’s been a really enjoyable watch,” said the 40-capped former Scottish international.

“The disappointment for me was watching Scotland’s game against Germany and then seeing the way that Austria went on the front foot when they played France.

City fans show their colours ahead of England's game with Denmark (Image: Facebook)

“They’re not one of the big guns but they just pressed the French and I thought it was brilliant to watch.

“I’ve not seen many teams sitting off and playing deep. All teams have got a genuine ambition about them and I think it’s quite refreshing.

“You want to see those open games. There have been superb goals, the quality has been good and teams have been going for it.

“If it carries on like this right throughout the knock-out stages, I think everybody will have enjoyed it.

“The thing with Germany is that it’s organised so well. They are proper football stadiums and the atmosphere is fantastic.”

The Scots recovered from their opening 5-1 thumping to draw with Switzerland and set up a must-win finale against Hungary in Stuttgart this afternoon.

Alexander felt the hefty margin of defeat in the Germany game almost did them a favour.

“After a couple of days, I don’t think that would have been a bad thing for the Scotland camp.

“Sometimes you can lose a really tight one and feel unlucky and hard done by.

“But because it was such a difficult night, it was almost like a reset for everybody.

“Obviously the goal difference could potentially hurt Scotland in qualifying for the knock-out stages. But I actually think it was a better place to respond from.

“All those players were in the spotlight and knew they couldn’t perform like that again.

“I think it added to their motivation to put it right and we saw that against Switzerland. There was much more energy and aggression and a belief.

“Steve Clarke has been talking about four points being enough. Anything from the Germany game would have been the bonus.

“They would have loved to have beaten Switzerland and it was a possibility after going 1-0 up.

“But if they had mapped it out about where the four points would come from, then a draw the other night and beating Hungary looked the most likely.”

Hungary have lost both their games as Scotland target the win to sneak into the last 16 as one of the best third-placed finishers.

Jordan Pickford is beaten by Denmark's stunning equaliser (Image: PA)

Alexander said: “We can’t go out there thinking that the result is guaranteed just because they’ve been beaten twice.

“Hungary went into the tournament in decent form and almost as dark horses with a few people.

“We’ve got to improve on the quality side. The effort and commitment were there and that’s the minimum Scotland fans and the players will require so fingers crossed.”

England’s plodding approach against the Danes drew more flak for boss Gareth Southgate. They still need something against Slovenia in their final group match on Tuesday.

But Alexander anticipates them growing into the tournament.

“When you look at players like (Phil) Foden and (Harry) Kane, their class is undoubted. It’s just getting them up to speed and building their momentum again.

“A lot of the players have had long seasons and then you have a bit of an artificial break.

“I remember when I played for Scotland my season would finish with Preston or Burnley in the Championship and then my next international game would be three and a half weeks later.

“It was a really strange situation because you’re almost treading water before you get that momentum back.”