There was a time in the not-so-distant past when a Scotland international break was met with the kind of collective groan that accompanies the discovery that the BBC are still funding the production of Irish tragicomedy Mrs Brown’s Boys.
Some of the more embarrassing moments included a 3-0 defeat in Kazakhstan and a thrashing in Belgium, but the script has evolved quite significantly since those toe-curling days, which is more than can be said for Mrs Brown’s Boys.
Tomorrow in Krakow, Scotland can secure a play-off spot for Euro 2024 so long as they avoid defeat by Ukraine following two energising victories in recent days.
Last Wednesday’s win over the same opponents at Hampden was mightily impressive and represented a return to the type of physical, in-your-face performance that had been the hallmark of the previous European Championship qualifying campaign which culminated in play-off victories over Israel and Serbia.
The similarly cathartic win over the Republic of Ireland at the national stadium on Saturday – a battling, teeth-baring victory – was a stirring antidote to the woeful performance they turned in in Dublin in June.
It now appears as if those back-to-back summer defeats at the hands of the same opponents that Scotland have now beaten impressively were mere blips. The great shame is that the first of those slip-ups denied Scotland their place at a first World Cup finals since 1998.
But perhaps this is merely the start and not the end of a long run. There is a depth to this Scotland team that Steve Clarke has built and it is a description that relates to both the quality of the squad and to the reservoir of character it possesses. There is a production line of talent coming through, too, as the repeated incursions by English Premier League clubs demonstrate as they hoover up the best of the young talent from academies in Scotland.
Topping Nations League Group B1, elevation to the A tier of the competition, and securing a play-off spot would only serve to reinforce the belief that Scotland is an emerging force at the international level.
Plenty left in reserve
On that note, it is possible to witness the future right before our eyes with a look at Scot Gemmill’s Under-21s. If there is an area of the pitch where the senior team are perhaps in need of an infusion of fresh talent it might just be in attack.
Yes, Che Adams was unlucky not to score last Wednesday night and gave the Ukraine back line plenty to think about with his energy and his runs in behind, but he was also wasteful.
Yes, Lyndon Dykes rose majestically to head in the clinching second and third goals but he is also a certain type of striker and not necessarily suited to playing the lone role, as evidenced against the Republic of Ireland on Saturday.
Which is why it is instructive to look at Gemmill’s squad where there are two players who might provide the senior squad with long-term options. This column recently mentioned Tommy Conway, the young Bristol City striker, who has started his season in the Championship with seven goals in 12 games who made his debut for the Under-21s against Northern Ireland on Thursday – and Ben Doak, the young Liverpool attacker formerly of Celtic, who scored a fine individual goal in that 3-0 win in Belfast before sitting out the return game yesterday. The progress of both will serve to intrigue and offer further grounds for optimism.
What’s On TV
Rangers have the chance to go back to the top of the Premiership when they meet Hearts in the lunchtime kick-off at Tynecastle on Saturday (Sky Sports Football 12.30), albeit only for a couple of hours.
It is an opportunity that they would not have expected so quickly after falling five points behind Celtic in the title race when the sides met at the start of this month. Standing in their way will be a Hearts team that will be looking to record their third win on the trot.
Robbie Neilson’s side will have to buck the recent trend of failing to beat Rangers, however. Their last victories came against the Ibrox side in 2020, the second of which almost resulted in Steven Gerrard resigning before the Covid-19 outbreak intervened but those results were something of a blip in a recent trend; those are their only wins over Rangers since a 4-1 victory at Tynecastle in February 2017, a run spanning 18 fixtures.
Warriors more like their old selves
Glasgow Warriors will head into Saturday’s United Rugby Championship match against Ospreys with a spring in their step after they left punters with a familiar Friday feeling at Scotstoun the other night.
Lambasted for a limp performance against Benetton Treviso in their league opener 10 days ago, there was plenty of panache to Franco Smith’s men, a flair that had been missing not just in Italy but over large chunks of the previous campaign under Danny Wilson.
The ankle ligament injury to Rory Darge is a sickening blow but it might also present an opportunity to Thomas Gordon who stood in against Cardiff and provided an assured performance while nabbing a second-half try into the bargain.
For Warriors fans, there can be a renewed sense of optimism that Smith is the man to make Glasgow a force at this level once more.
Murray’s legacy is beyond debate
There was a slew of critics mocking Andy Murray for appearing in a picture with Roger Federer, Rafael Nadal and Novak Djokovic for the Swiss great’s final farewell at the Laver Cup in London last week. The main gist of their comments seemed to be of the “what’s he doing there” variety. Of course, it’s a familiar trait of the social media brigade to rubbish sporting achievements these days, to reframe or recast history in a negative – and inaccurate – light.
Yes, Andy’s three Grand Slam victories pale in comparison sat beside Federer (20), Djokovic (21) and Nadal (22) but they only tell part of the story. Such a rudimentary reading ignores the two Olympic gold medals the Scot won, they ignore the eight other Grand Slam finals he played in, his 46 ATP singles titles, the fact he was world No.1 for the best part of a year during the era – and it ignores, too, the hip injury which first started bothering him in 2017 and resulted in a surgery in 2018 that has ended the careers of lesser mortals.
It’s possible to speculate that without that injury Murray could have done plenty of stat-padding as some of his contemporaries’ dominance waned over that timeframe. It’s conjecture, of course, revisionism if you will – the kind of thing that’s just as pointless as reducing the impact Murray made on the game to the fact he did not win more than three Grand Slams.
1396
The number of supporters who turned up to watch Open Goal Broomhill's 1-1 draw against Hearts B at Broadwood on Friday. Say what you like about the decision to bring Simon Ferry on board this summer but his – and the show's – presence at the club is being reflected in people coming through the turnstiles. Broomhill are the most watched club in the Lowland League after six games, with crowds averaging 554.
