As Nariman Akhundzade’s trundler trickled past the desperate, outstretched arm of Liam McFarlane and nestled into the bottom corner of the Scotland net, the trip to Rugby Park in desperate search of hope started to look a forlorn one.
What was I thinking? This was the Scotland under-21s, for crying out loud. Where hope – along with numerous seemingly promising international careers over the years - goes to die. The team that haven’t qualified for a major tournament since 1996, eight years before the oldest member of the current squad was even born.
To whet the appetite even further, they were eliminated from this latest round of qualifying for the European Championships about an hour before this game against Azerbaijan had even kicked off, as Czechia’s 1-0 win over Bulgaria sealed yet another summer spent on the outside looking in for the Bonnie Bairns. Which isn’t actually their nickname, but arguably, should be.
Not all of those failures can be laid at the door of former manager Scot Gemmill of course. He wasn’t in charge for the entirety of those 30 years, even if some less generous observers than I might suggest that it simply felt like it.
No, Gemmill was at the helm for only the last third of that period, which finally for the Scottish FA in the summer, proved quite long enough. This latest qualification catastrophe was his to own, mind you, with successor Tony Docherty at least having a couple of matches at the tail end of it to try and whip a team into shape and get his ideas across.
Except, they aren’t all his ideas, or even his shape, of course. Docherty’s appointment comes as part of a revamp of the Scotland youth teams and a realignment with the wants of the senior squad manager, and the 1280 hardy souls and hopeful, face-painted weans that traipsed up the Rugby Road did so with some intrigue. Would the Sebastien Pocognoli principles lead to an improvement in fortunes for the young team, with Docherty, known for his ability to nurture young talent in his managerial jobs to date, steering the ship?
Also in attendance was Pocognoli’s assistant Alan Irvine, while Scotland national team royalty was present in the form of Darren Fletcher, watching his son Tyler strut around the midfield as he once did fresh from his World Cup experience with Steve Clarke’s squad.
The early signs were good. Set up in Pocognoli’s preferred 3-4-1-2 system, the young Scots were popping the ball around on the immaculate new Rugby Park pitch and leaving the jet-lagged Azerbaijanis in even more of a daze. But just as it looked as though the under-21s were going to provide the antidote to a difficult week for followers of our national sides - not so much out of nowhere, as from the moon - there was a goal for Azerbaijan.
Of course there was. But just as that infamous scene from Trainspotting about how unfortunate it is to be afflicted with Scottishness (I’m paraphrasing) was playing through a thousand or so heads, the young team roared back, and a quickfire Barney Stewart double – including an impressive headed finish – brought some much-needed cheer to Rugby Park, and to the nation.
It was in this moment of adversity that we got a clear notion of the shift towards the process now being king throughout the national age groups, with the fact that Docherty was most impressed that his team’s response to going behind wasn’t so much a response at all, per se, but an adherence to what was being asked of them within the system, telling.
“Everything we worked on as a group both in possession and out of possession, the players executed it fantastically well,” Docherty said.
“I thought they were really brave. The way the game went, probably the most important thing for me was that after starting the game really well and being really dominant in terms of possession, we then had a setback. They have their first attack and score a goal.
“So, how do we respond to that? And the response was brilliant. We just kept on doing what we were doing. I challenged the players before the game to try and create an identity for the Scotland under-21 group, and I think they did that.”
An identity, after all, is what the Tartan Army have been crying out for in the national set-up. The question of what Scotland actually are trying to be as a team was one that confounded pundits and fans alike during the World Cup, but it seems as though there is now a clear way of playing, and what’s more, a through line from the top down.
As dominant as the system allowed Scotland to be, and as impressive as some of the patterns of play were from the young Scots, who played more football on the night than had been witnessed at this level for many a moon, from there on out it was some of the star individuals within it that stole the show.
The aforementioned Fletcher and Stewart, of course, with his double. But also, the pair who were ‘loaned’ back to the under-21s from Pocognoli’s senior squad for the night, James Wilson and – most notably – man of the match Findlay Curtis.
Wilson got his goal with a fine near-post header, and along with Stewart, the pair provided a nice counternarrative to the theory that Scotland haven't got any promising strikers coming through. Also in this squad were Andrew Tod and scorer of Scotland’s fifth on the night, Bobby Wales, and when you add their names to Robbie Ure and Kieron Bowie just a few years ahead of them, then suddenly the options up top for Pocognoli don’t look quite so bleak as many would have you believe.
"Even in the first team there are loads of good strikers,” Stewart said.
“Obviously, for me being younger, I want to be in the next generation of Scottish strikers.
"I don't want to get ahead of myself because I am not starting for my club back home. So, I have got to take it one step at a time, but obviously my long-term goal is to play for Scotland. But there are plenty of good Scotland strikers.
"It feels like we are being watched and seen. We knew the assistant manager from the Scotland team was here and we are playing the same football. They have got a pathway for us and they know what they want from us and where they want us to go. It’s not just a case of playing for the Under 21s and then just sort of disappearing.
"You will get the opportunity if you perform at this level. So, it is really good to see."
Part of the point of the under-21 side is to unearth these diamonds in the mud. Admittedly, there wasn’t much mud on show here (did I mention how good the Killie pitch is? What a difference), but there was plenty of talent who sparkled on the night. And none more so than Rangers youngster Curtis, who registered four assists playing in the role that John McGinn has so far mainly occupied for the senior side since Pocognoli’s arrival, as one of the advanced midfielders tucked in behind the front line.
For all the talent oozing out of him though, it was his attitude to the task – along with that of Wilson – that most struck Docherty, with neither seeing this game as beneath them after the luxury of training in La Manga with the senior side.
“I came back [from La Manga] with those two, with James and Findlay, and we created a wee leadership group,” he said.
“They’ve been instrumental. The attitude and the togetherness of the squad, along with Fletch, has been brilliant. There are others that I’d put in that as well. They deserve huge credit, because the easiest thing could have been to be a bit petulant, that sort of thing.
“They’ve done themselves massive favours. Alan Irvine was here tonight and he’s seen the level of the performance. But, as a coach, you don’t just see the level of performance, you look at the attitude and the mentality towards it. There’s has been exemplary.
“Curtis was outstanding and there were so many really strong performances with Tyler Fletcher great in the middle of the park too. Their attitude was great.
“We had young Kyle Glasgow coming on at the end there, and Findlay Curtis is looking after him. For me, that’s brilliant, and it’s something that we are trying to build. There is already a real togetherness about them.”
What is also encouraging for the national team is that the players looked so comfortable being asked to be brave in possession, play out from the back, and to look after the ball. Something that St Mirren defender Henry Fieldson, who also caught the eye playing on the left of the back three, partly attributes to a welcome trend throughout the Scottish game of hiring progressive, young coaches. Such as his own boss at club level, Craig McLeish.
"I think it is the best way forward,” Fieldson said.
“That style of football allows the best players on the pitch to show why they are the best players on the pitch and we scored five goals tonight from it. The creative players are so good with the ball to feet, it allows them to play fun football. Like you're playing in your backyard.
“The best teams do that as opposed to transition football. In my opinion, the way forward is by getting the ball down and playing.
“I've loved this season. I love getting on the ball and playing, and you can really hurt teams when you do that. I've played in possession, switching to that three at the back, it does hurt teams.”
It certainly hurt the Azerbaijanis on the night in Ayrshire, in any case, and modest though the opposition may have been, there finally seems to be a bit of hope for the future at under-21 level for Scotland.
If they beat Bulgaria on Tuesday evening in Pazardijk, they can ensure they will be in Pot Three for the next campaign and give themselves a fighting chance of ending the long wait for tournament football at this level.
More importantly, the under-21 setup once again looks like a place where young Scottish footballers can gain vital experience, learn what will be required of them if they want to make the step up to the senior side, and know exactly will be expected of them if they do get there.
Whisper it, but might there even be a chance that Scotland fans can get enthusiastic about this team again, after so many years of apathy surrounding it?
“Aye, why not?” Docherty said.
“We have really, really talented players, and from the minute we have walked in the door and had the first session with them, they have had that energy and enthusiasm about them.
“That is the identity I want them to create.”
Whether this team can create a little bit of history for themselves in the next qualifying campaign, and a few Scotland stars of the future, remains to be seen. But on this evidence, they have a better chance on all counts than they had just a few short months ago.
