We Can Do It, But, The Odds Are Against Us

FAR BE IT for me to throw a bucket of ice-cold water over Scottish aspirations as we prepare to welcome Slovakia to Hampden tomorrow night, but, this one looks like being another of these nail-biting Hampden nights.

Hampden nights, as her against Slovenia, are often fraught affairs

It is true, we have home advantage, and we have been here before, but, this is a “must-win” game; so long as we emerge victorious, our World Cup hopes remain alive and, our destiny is in our own hands. But, IF we win – as we must – we will require to do something we have not done for a decade – that is, stay unbeaten over six consecutive matches.

Since we lost 3-0 to England, at Wembley, on 11 November, last year, we have drawn 1-1 with Canada in a Friendly, beaten Slovenia 1-0, drawn 2-2 with England, beaten Lithuania 3-0, then beat Malta 2-0 last time out; that's five games unbeaten. The last time we strung together a six-game unbeaten run was between losing 2-0 to Italy, in Bari, on 28 March, 2007, and losing, to the Georgians, in Tbilisi, on 17 October that year.

 Faddy's goal in Paris was one of the highlights of our last six-game unbeaten run

Between these two defeats, we went to Vienna and beat Austria 1-0, then headed off to Toftir to beat the Faeroe Islands 2-0. Back at Pittodrie, we beat South Africa 1-0, before going home to Hampden to beat Lithuania 3-1. We kept the run going on the road when James McFadden scored that goal in the Parc de Princes, and, on the back of that, Alex McLeish took his squad to Tbilisi, where the wheels came off the band-wagon with the 2-0 loss which ultimately holed out European Championship hopes below the water-line.

So, if we win tomorrow night, that's ten years of hurt assuaged, BUT, we will still then have to win in Slovenia, to clinch our place in the qualifying play-offs. That will mean winning a seventh straight game, and that's something we have not managed this century.

Sorry to be the bearer of bad news, but, the last time we were in seventh heaven was just over 20-years ago, in 1997. It still hurts to drag this one up, but, on 15 June, 1996, we lost 2-0 to England in the European Championships finals group game at Wembley. Three days later, at Villa Park, Ally McCoist scored his best goal for Scotland as we beat Switzerland 1-0. Unfortunately the Dutch were busy imploding against England at the same time, so we were out; however, undismayed, at the start of the new season we kicked off our 1998 World Cup qualifying campaign with a 0-0 draw with Austria, in Vienna, before posting our first win when we beat Latvia 2-0 in Riga.

 Ally McCoist and "Juke Box" Durie celebrate Ally's goal against Switzrland

We then came home to Ibrox, to beat Sweden 1-0, before, after the game that never was in Tallinn, we were forced to travel to Monaco, where we had a disappointing 0-0 draw with Estonia. In the return game, at Rugby Park, we won 2-0, before making it seven games without defeat, after we beat Austria 2-0 at Celtic Park. All runs come to an end, however, and next time out, on 30 April, 1997, we lost 2-1 to Sweden in the Ullevaal.

Still, that seven-game run, including as it did six World Cup qualifiers, put us firmly on our way to France in 1998. So, we've put together the right kind of qualifying run before, why cannot we do it today?

Craig Gordon, was on our last six-game unbeaten run

Craig Gordon, Darren Fletcher and Steven Naismith were all in that squad which put together the last six-game run, a decade ago – so they can tell their younger team mates: “Listen guys we've done this before, we can do it again.” All we have to fear is fear itself, lt's win tomorrow, then keep the momentum going in Slovenia. We've been miserable long enough, it's about time the smile was back on the face of Scottish football.