Group 'B' Draw

Group B

France

Italy

Ukraine

SCOTLAND

Lithuania

Georgia

Faroe Islands

View fae the Isles so far...

So two games played and a two wins :) Also laid to rest the monkey on our back about the Faroes and Lithuania away, although when that overhead kick from Miceika went in I was begining to fear the worst. As for the Faroes, they offered little and never looked a threat, about the only concern was complacency on our part which showed in the second half. The fact that our Strikers are all scoring has to bode well for us, although if we keep picking up silly bookings then we're just making an already difficult task harder.
France have got off to a flying start winning both their opening games and will obviously be tough, even with the feared Hampden roar behind us anything from this game will be a bonus. The loss of Zidane and co hasn't really upset the French as new-comers like Ribery and Malouda (who weren't all that impressive early on in the World Cup) are proving capable replacements. The threat of Henry, Vieira and Makelele are well known and we can only hope the Walter has some pace in the defence. Going away to the Ukraine will also be tricky, a lot of their players, Shevchenko apart, are fairly unknown to us but again we want to finish above them so we need something from this game.

Well it has to be said that we rode our luck somewhat against the French :) but an opportunist goal from Gary Caldwell and some frantic defending saw up grab a superb win. It's been a long tome since Hampden was that mental, superb stuff! The game in Ukraine was one of what might have been, if only Kenny Miller's header had gone in, or that cross/shot had dipped below the bar, if Shevchenko hadn't been such a diving git, if the ref had a backbone... Still 3 points from 6 isn't bad and we're still top.
Georgia at home next, although we're missing Fletcher, Faddy and Pressley we've got have 3 points from this one to give us a lift before going to Italy (please nae the San Siro again, it's a dump!)

Half way through the campaign and we're second in the group on head to head results with Ukraine, I'll take that!
An early Kris Boyd goal against Georgia should have seen us dominating and putting them on the back foot, but this is Scotland after all and we never seem to do things the easy way :) Instead Georgia began to take control and it wasn't against the run of play that Arveladze scored just before half time. Second half saw much the same as Georgia dug in hoping for a draw, Scotland had a few chances but Miller, Boyd and Teale all squandered chances. A late substitution saw Craig Beattie coming on for Boyd and in almost the last minute he managed to shin a shot into the net.
The TA travelled to Bari in hope more than expectation of getting something from the current World Champions, but it wasn't to be. 15 mins gone and Luca Toni out jumped the defence to put them one up, Scotland had a few chances but Buffon wasn't overly troubled. Toni got his second later on in the second half to wrap it up for Italy. Scotland fought hard for a goal, we even finished the game with two strikers, something I doubt would happened under WS.

A very enjoyable trip to the Faroes saw us bag another 3 points with first half goals from Maloney and O'Connor, although the second half performance was nervous and we could have managed to to do another 2 - 2 if it wasn't for some poor finishing from the Faroes and some good goalkeeping from Craig Gordon

With 5 games to go and qualification still within our reach we needed the 3 points against Lithuania, but it took 30 frustrating minutes before Boyd found a way past the 10 men behind ball tactics. However an outrageous dive by Mikoliunas to con the Ref into giving a penalty saw Lithuania equalise, but McManus and the man of the moment, McFadden saw us alright for the trip to France to meet up with Henry - remember him saying 'We'll see you in Paris' - after we beat them at Hampden.
It seemed like most of Scotland had made the trip to France to see if we could take anything from the World Cup finalists. The Parc des Princes was more like Hampden with all the Saltires and Scotland fans spread all round the stadium :) and the atmosphere was fantastic. McLeish has choosen to deploy McFadden as a lone striker and Hartley as a holding midfielder and what a fantastic choice it was. Craig Gordon was expected to be a busy lad but his defence were having a superb game and kept most of the French attacks at bay. Just when it was looking like we might scrape a draw, McFadden gets the ball, turns and blasts a 30 yarder which Landreau could only help into the top corner to send the whole place mental! It really was a stunning goal and well worthy of winning any game :) The last half hour was classic backs to the wall stuff as the French threw everything at us, but superb defending and some fantastic saves from Gordon saw us hang on and start the mother of all parties.

A dream start against Ukraine, going two up inside 10 minutes, but the usual nervy performance once Shevchenko pulled one back on the half hour mark however McFadden produced the goods again mid way through the second half to seal it. This game and the following old firm game was to cost us dear, with Hutton, McCulloch and Brown all out plus Naysmith and Miller also out for the trip to Georgia.
All the scare stories about Georgia were largely unfounded, what an absolutely fantastic place with some of the nicest people you're ever likely to meet. Nice isn't the word to describe the football, it's fair to say that our makeshift team just didn't gel on the night and we got what we deserved. Which leaves us just the 'simple' task to beating the current World Champions at Hampden to qualify for Euro 2008, nae bother...

Well a 90th minute sucker punch saw us lose out on the posibility of qualification, as a draw would have left us with the hope that Ukraine could beat France in Kiev. How that free kick against Hutton was awarded is a mystery to just about everyone, except the linesman of course, and in typical fashion it cost us dear with Panucci able to score in injury time.