HAVING endured a good few Wembley heartaches, I didn't burst into tears when England scraped home tonight. Maybe a draw would have been a fairer result, but, I don't think we did enough in attack to be able to justify a We Wuz Robbed response to the loss.
A few sriblled observations during the STV coverage.
The National Anthem - Why cannot the Tartan Army keep in time to Flower of Scotland, even when, as tonight, it is played by a combination of pipe and military bands, the TA seems unable to resist beating the band to the finish. The Hooray Hamishes at Murrayfield can manage it, why not the fitba fans?
I thought we won the anthem battle - we out-booed them.
A brilliant opener from James Morrison, but, what about Joe Hart? Had Allan McGregor let that one in, the English media would have gone into overdrive about it. If Hart is indeed their best keeper, they've got real problems.
I felt England got all the favours from the referee. There was clear foul by Steven Gerrard on Robert Snodgrass which wasn't given; then Allan Hutton won a clear corner off Danny Welbeck and he gave a goal kick to England. Then, in the second half, there was that definite second yellow card which Kyle Walker didn't get. England going down to ten men at that point, and it's a different ball game.
We knew, if he got a chance to exploit his pace, Theo Walcott could hurt us; and he proved it with the England equaliser. Just a pity Grant Handley was off the park at the time, since Walcott ended up in the area he would have been covering and I'd have backed him to stop the attack.
I felt putting Frank Lampard on at half-time was a clear indication of how worried Roy Hodgson was at the break. Lampard definitely gave them a wee bit more go-forward impetus.
What a finish from Kenny Miller, that goal alone justified his inclusion, which I admit, I wasn't happy about. I thought at first he had controlled the cross with his hand, but, on replay, it looked like his chest and all too-often, we don't get such breaks. Terrific finish though.
England's second equaliser was a bad goal to lose. Scottish teams, at all levels, have a problem with crosses into the edge of the six-yard box, time we sorted-out this failing.
I wondered at WGS replacing James Forrest with Charlie Mulgrew. I thought Forrest played well, but, he learned at Wembley that he needs to find a wee bit more to get past better defenders than he faces on a weekly basis in Scotland.
I feared, Mulgrew coming on was an acceptance that we would be happy with a draw - which I'd have taken. But, this was a match we could still have won at 2-2; I would maybe have sent-on Steven Naismyth earlier than WGS did.
England's winner was another terrible indictment of our failings at set-pieces. That said, big Lambert took the header well. However, the goal came from a corner kick, which was taken from outside the arc. I know players get away with this on a weekly basis, and the corner was down at the end where there is no linesman.
But, the kick was taken illegally; however, this taking corners from outwith the arc is football's equivalent of the crooked scrum feed in rugby and, until referees sort it out, players will continue to try it on.
At the time, though, England were being the more positive side, so it would be a wee bit perverse to moan too much about this sharp practice. If we had got our marking sorted out properly, Lambert would not have scored. It seemed to me, Scott Brown was marking him and that is a definite mis-match.
A one-goal defeat to England, I can just about stomach. We know we are not a good side; maybe the way they struggled to beat us will convince some in England, they are not nearly as good as they think themselves to be.
England had the better players, but, we got more from our team as a unit than they did.
I remain unconvinced as to the usefulness of resuming regular games against the Auld Enemy. However, restoring the Home Internationals as an Under-23 tournament, a staging post between the Under-21 games and the full team, would, I believe, help both nations.
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