BITTERSWEET DRAMA HAS PUNDITS GIVING THEIR ALL by Hugh Keevins

IN A frantic attempt to lend a sense of drama to what turned out to be a compelling occasion as the Scots won 1-0, Richard Keys on Sky last night drew a comparison between England’s winning position before the second leg of the Euro 2000 qualifier against Scotland and the situation Greg Norman found himself in on Sunday afternoon at the 1996 Masters.

The point Keys didn’t make, of course, was that in Nick Faldo, Norman had to contend with a challenge atAugusta from one of the greatest golfers of the century. Scotland, ever the unlucky 2-1 losers over two legs, are not in Faldo’s class, but, my word, they turned what appeared to be a routine task for England into a fraught mission.

On STV, Ian St John, who once suffered in a 9-3 defeat at Wembley, viewed the possibility of overhauling a two-goal deficit as potentially the greatest upset in the history of the game.

"I just hope," he said before the off with more than a hint of trepidation, "that we don’t disgrace ourselves." As it turned out, the Saint didn’t need toworry.

Anyone flicking back and forward between terrestrial and satellite coverage of the game would have spotted right away that Sky had more of everything – more air time, more panellists, more to say.

Jack Charlton was conspicuous by his absence from the panel after making pungent comments about England’s short-comings at Hampden.

His replacement, Bobby Robson, was the new boy in an otherwise unchanged side from Saturday. "Scotland have to be brilliant," noted the former England manager, "just to get back into the game."

They were.

Second time round, Graeme Souness, Charlie Nicholas and Ray Wilkins were just as sharp as before.

On STV, meantime, JoeJordan and Mark Hateley trotted out a few well-worn lines about the Scots needing to score first and England wanting to avoid complacency. I watched the first-half on Sky. In the commentary box, Martin Tyler and Andy Gray performed their familiar double act. Bearing in mind the ranting that appeared in some of the English newspapers at the weekend about Scots booing God Save the Queen at Hampden, Graysnappily summed up the English fans’ jeering of Flower of Scotland with the retort "one each".

The visitors began thrillingly. However, the opportunities missed by McCann and Barry Ferguson during the opening 15 minutes provoked a withering response from Gray, who noted that the Scots simply couldn’t afford to neglect such gilt-edged opportunities.

What they needed to do was play the game at a quick tempo and outpass a lethargic England side content to get players behind the ball. The Scots looked assured in midfield and dominated for much of the firsthalf. England, admittedly, hada "goal" disallowed for Alan Shearer’s shove on Neil Sullivan. "In my day," Gray admitted, "you might have got away with that."

No-one was going to take issue with Scotland’s right to get on the scoresheet before half-time. Dailly’s through ball, a wonderful cross from McCann, a towering header from Don Hutchison and suddenly the Scots were back in it. Paul Ince’s attempt to take McCann out of the equation with a reckless challenge earned a yellow card and a merited rebuke from Gray.

Back on STV, where an excited Jim Delahunt seemed to be auditioning for a part inOnly An Excuse?, Jordan suggested that Scotland didn’t need to do anything different in the second-half to get back on level terms, while commentator Archie McPherson enthused that the Scots had regained their credibility.

Right on cue, England then created their best chance for Alan Shearer, who blazed the ball high and wide after a slip by Hendry. "Sloppy," noted Archie, sounding relieved rather than irked.

Curiously, when Mark Burchill came on for the last 15 minutes, it was McCann who went off rather than Dodds, who didn’t look as if he could hurt England. After David Seaman made an unbelievable save from Dailly’s header, Archie warned us that time was running out. The Scots prepared to celebrate their most bittersweet Wembley triumph.