Celebrate Good Times

 

                                                                    Photo: BBC Scotland

Last week was one of those ‘international break’ interludes which means the top flight of Scottish football had a break while the lesser mortals in the lower leagues carried on as usual. 

Scotland were involved in what is now euphemistically termed a ‘double header’ with games against Cyprus and Spain at the National Stadium. Against all odds, Stevie Clarke’s men bagged six points to start the European Championship qualifying campaign with a bang, following up a laboured 3-0 over Cyprus with a brilliant 2-0 win over European ‘heavyweights’ Spain at Hampden - a game sure to live long in the memory.

The fixtures against Cyprus and Spain evoke memories of previous Scotland victories over said opposition and, moreover, the celebrations which followed. Back in early February 1989, Scotland travelled to Cyprus for a World Cup qualifier. The Scots were favourites to win. I can just about remember Scotland hammering the Cypriots 8-0 at Hampden in another World Cup qualifier in 1969 - Colin Stein scoring four goals. Stein had also scored in the fixture in the Mediterranean island where the Scots won 5-0 four months earlier.

Fast forward twenty years and we looked forward to Scotland repeating these easy victories. However, the Scotland team in 1989 was a different composition to the one that ended the decade that was the swinging sixties. While the team that cruised to that 8-0 win included the likes of Billy Bremner, Billy McNeill, John Greig, Willie Henderson, Alan Gilzean, Eddie Gray and Charlie Cooke as well as the aforementioned Stein, the 1989 version wasn’t quite as endowed with such talent. Nevertheless, when Maurice Johnston gave the Scots the lead after just nine minutes in the heat of Limassol, we sat back and waited for the goals fest. But we Scots know it never pays to get overconfident where the national football team is concerned…

Cyprus equalised six minutes later, and the game was level at half-time before the metaphorical roof fell in for the Scots three minutes into the second half when Cyprus took the lead. Scotland manager Andy Roxburgh cut a sorry figure but, thankfully, not for long as Richard Gough equalised six minutes later. But surely even a draw against the group’s so-called minnows – a group that also contained Norway, France, and the former Yugoslavia, - would seriously damage Scotland’s hopes of reaching the World Cup finals in Italy the following year.

Step forward Richard Gough once more. With time added on at the end of the game standing at a remarkable six minutes, the Rangers defender headed home a dramatic and, some might say, scarcely deserved winner for the Scots. Cue the normally placid Roxburgh leaping on to the pitch dancing like a demented gazelle on heat.

Scotland did qualify for the 1990 World Cup finals in Italy – but then they brought on the Costa Ricans…

What Scotland 1989 could have done with was a player with the sublime ability of Kenny Dalglish. Five years earlier, ‘King Kenny’ scored one of the most memorable goals seen at Hampden when he dinked past two Spanish defenders in the penalty box before firing a brilliant left foot shot into the top corner of the net to seal a 3-1 win over Spain in another World Cup qualifier, this time for the 1986 finals in Mexico. A young Maurice Johnston had scored twice to put the Scots in control, but Dalglish’s superlative strike put the Scots in dreamland.

Scotland manager Jock Stein wasn’t the sort of character to dance jigs of joy on the touchline but the celebratory atmosphere amongst the ecstatic Tartan Army was palpable to say the least. It gave the Scots real belief that they could qualify for the finals two years later which, of course, they did. These were the days, younger readers, when Scotland regularly qualified for the final stages of World Cups.

Jim Bett, who had a pivotal role in the game, recalled the fans backing at Hampden and said they were like an extra man for the Scotland team. He believed with such a backing they could have beaten anyone at Hampden that evening. Certainly, the celebrations went on long into the night, even with it being a ‘school’ night.

Now, Scotland have been celebrating another win over Cyprus and a sensational triumph over Spain. We Scots know better than anyone not to count our chickens but we can genuinely believe we will be at the finals of the European Championships in Germany in 2024. Can't we? Can we celebrate good times?

On second thoughts, perhaps I should have waited until after the games against Norway and Georgia in June before posting this…

 

Twitter @Mike1874

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