Steve Clarke believes Scotland were denied a "clear penalty" in Wednesday night's friendly defeat to Turkiye.

The national team's four-game unbeaten run came to an end at the Diyarbakir Stadium as strikes from Ozan Kabak and Cengiz Under gave the hosts victory, despite John McGinn's 15th international goal sparking a late surge.

Lyndon Dykes had a spot-kick claim dismissed following a shove from Kabak and Scotland were unable to conjure up an equaliser.

The result ensures Clarke's side close out 2022 with a defeat but the manager is adamant they were let down by referee Visar Kastrati.

He said: "We had some moments but we couldn't get the equaliser, although when you look at the penalty incident, it was a clear penalty.

"Why it's not given, I don't know. On the flipside, when Stuart Armstrong went down on the edge of the box it wasn't a foul and they scored from the counter-attack off that.

"I would've liked the penalty, to be honest."

Marked improvement after going two goals down couldn't quite mask what was a largely lacklustre Scotland display, one that could've been worse at the interval had Kabak, in particular, been more clinical.

He eventually bulleted home a header from a deep free-kick five minutes before the break and Under struck the eventual winner following a quick counter four minutes after the restart.

Clarke was frustrated by the nature of goals conceded but refused to aim too much criticism his players' way, suggesting their preparation for the fixture had been less than ideal.

"The first goal just before half-time, it's a key moment in the game," Clarke said. "If we get to half time at 0-0, we can tweak the team, do what we want to do and still be on level terms.

"To defend a setplay like that is poor, we know it's poor.

"We'll try and make sure we improve on that, it's not something we've been culpable of recently.

"It's something we can look at, address and be better at it.

“At times we coped quite well, other times not so well. We probably gave up too many chances in the first-half, a lot of them from our own slackness, if you like.

"Maybe it was the mentality of a friendly, but it should be mentioned also that it was a long trip to get here, a long flight.

"We decided to do it in quite a short time span, we only had 25 or 20 minutes tactical work on the pitch on Monday, which was obviously in front of everybody who wanted to watch it.

"So, we can make some excuses from that but I don't want to make too many excuses. There was some things we tried on the pitch, organisation-wise, set play-wise, some of it worked and some of it didn't work.

"We have to go away, analyse what we did and hopefully be much better next year."

McGinn notching another fine Scotland, arrowed into the corner after a surging run from midfield, was the undoubted highlight for the travelling contingent.

"No, I think we give John plenty of credit," Clarke told BBC Scotland when asked if the Aston Villa star remains an underrated figure. "He's been great for me, he's got those goals in my time as manager.

"We've found a way to play John, normally higher up the pitch but he's scored tonight from deeper.

"He's got that dynamic and he's a good finisher. Strong boy, was fouled on the run through but stayed on his feet and showed a quality finish. We're all grateful to John and we know how good he is for Scotland."

Clarke was disappointed last week by Celtic's decision not to release players for the fixture as they embarked on a midseason trip to Australia, while Nathan Patterson, Kenny McLean and Che Adams withdrew on Monday through injury.

But the boss was able to hand a debut to Liverpool full-back Calvin Ramsay and brought Bologna's Lewis Ferguson back into the fold.

He's confident his squad options are plentiful ahead of the Euro 2024 qualifying campaign commencing on March 25 as Cyprus visit Hampden.

"It shows the depth of the squad, as well, when you think I've made six changes tonight," Clark added. "I've taken Grant Hanley off and put Scott McKenna on, a player from the English Premier League.

"Young Calvin gets his first cap which is great for him. I know it was a tough night for him to come in, it was a difficult game to come into.

"He gave us a bit more defensive solidity. I didn't want to put the young man under pressure early in the game so I think the half-time introduction was better for Calvin. Lewis Ferguson came off the bench and looked really good, Ryan Jack gave us a nice stability in midfield.

"There are positives to be taken from the game but obviously the overriding feeling is we're disappointed the four game unbeaten run comes to an end."