Clarke perhaps put it best in his post-match media conference: “A crazy game, a crazy night”.
It was one which started – and equally ended – with a magnificent mixed bag of emotions.
The elder statesman of the Tartan Army, who have tread these waters before, were cautious.
A trip away to an already-eliminated Greece, who supposedly had nothing to play for, was not as simple as the script would suggest.
Within seven minutes, that was shown.
How Tasos Bakasetas goal ended up the sole product of the first half remains puzzling.
The shaken Scots could have been left with an insurmountable task or tied at 1-1 in equal measure after a mind-boggling first 45 minutes where 42-year-old Craig Gordon rolled back the years with a vintage display.
There was no structure on a night where a stalemate would have been suffice.
The unpredictability of the game in Greece grew in the second half when sounds of extraordinary scenes in Copenhagen came calling.
Andy Robertson admitted it “was a bit strange” to hear the away fans cheering with their side 3-1 down and seemingly waving goodbye to automatic qualification.
The premise on the trip to Pireaus was avoid defeat, because we could assume top seeds Denmark would deal with Belarus – ranked 103rd in the world rankings – in similar vein to their 6-0 trouncing last month.
If it was Scotland, this would have been billed as a potential banana skin and likely filed under the aforementioned glorious failures.
“We’ve got a lucky break,” Clarke told BBC Scotland. “Belarus have done us a big favour in Denmark and that gives us everything to play for on Tuesday.
“When it went 3-0, I put some different instructions on to the pitch. I won’t tell you what, but it was more with play-offs in mind.
“Then suddenly we got to 3-1 and realised that the other game was the way it was. So those instructions were taken back and we tried our best to get something out of the game here.”