NOBODY who followed Scotland to the Ullevaal Stadium in Oslo last night would have experienced an irresistible urge to acclaim a new golden era, but Berti Vogts’ side at least halted their recent run of embarrassments in friendly matches. This, it should be said, owed as much to Norway’s most pressing problem – an inability to exploit glaringly superior outfield play – as it did to any new- found impressiveness among the Scots. With the Euro 2004 double- header against the Faroes and Germany looming, avoiding pain was as much encouragement as anyone was entitled to look for. Even so, there remained a disturbing impression about the visitors – a failure to look like probable winners – that makes them unconvincing as potential qualifiers for next summer’s finals in Portugal.

Indeed, too often these days, the most striking aspect of Scotland’s play is a capacity for turning impeccably- drafted theory into seriously flawed practice. Vogts’ proposal, for example, that Barry Ferguson and Paul Lambert should operate as aggressive, surging midfielders – with Christian Dailly the designated defensive element in that department – made unquestionable sense until it was put to the test.

Dailly and Pressley team up to clear

There is a possibility that the two Old Firm captains are imprisoned by habit, having played the “holding” role so long with their clubs that transforming themselves into auxiliary forwards feels unnatural. But this notion is rendered irrelevant in any case when opponents are quicker, brighter and more adept at winning and retaining possession, leading to a virtually uninterrupted progression towards the Scots’ back yard. This was the case for longer periods in this latest outing, the pattern of play a simple matter of Norway’s attack against Scotland’s defence. It was fairly predictable, of course, given the personnel involved.

With Ole Gunnar Solskjaer and John Arne Riise, stalwarts of the Premiership, flanking the towering John Carew, a hero of La Liga in Spain, there existed from the moment the fixture was scheduled the probability Steven Pressley, Andy Webster, Maurice Ross and Gary Naysmith would shed appreciably more sweat than Don Hutchison and Stevie Crawford, the starting front- line partnership after Neil McCann had failed a fitness test and was unable even to occupy a place on the bench.

As a consequence, Ferguson and Lambert more often than not found themselves in familiar territory, just in front of the back four, trying to dilute the home side’s aggressiveness and instigate some of their own. That their goal was rarely achieved was illustrated by the fact that the Scots’ first “ attack” – although it was hardly worthy of the description – should take 25 minutes to materialise. It was merely a long, high centre from Ross on the right that dropped over Espen Johnsen’s crossbar.

The Norwegian’s contrasting swarming in forward areas allowed Pressley and his group the opportunity to defend heroically, although the Hearts man was cautioned for an over- zealous challenge on Carew after 34 minutes. He had already distinguished himself with a crucial interception of Christer Basma’s low cut- back towards Carew at the end of an incisive run into the right side of the visitors’ penalty area. Pressley and Webster generally made an impressive job of containing Carew and of limiting the home side’s chances, especially during a first half in which they were almost constantly required to go to work.

As a result, the Norwegians were restricted to Solskjaer’s low drive from the left into the side netting, Martin Andresen’s looping header ( marginally too high) from Riise’s deep cross and a moment of uncertainty from Robert Douglas, when his flap at a long throw from Riise allowed Carew to mis- hit the ball when it dropped to his right foot. If the big man felt at least mildly embarrassed by that amateurish attempt, he would be thoroughly consoled by the shocking miss by his team- mate, Riise, at the start of the second half. Andresen created the moment with a run to the deadball line on the right and a chip to the totally unmarked Liverpool player.

Vogts relays instructions to the pitch

From six yards and with his favoured left foot, Riise sent the ball against the post. Unlike his counterpart, Nils Johan Semb, Vogts made no changes at the interval, but, from the utterly unexpected incident that occurred in the 54th minute, it is reasonable to speculate that he must have had further words with Ferguson. When Claus Lundekvam made a defensive mistake, it was the Rangers midfielder who was suddenly clear of the pack, closing in on Johnsen. But the goalkeeper was quickly off his line and outside his area to foil Ferguson with a sliding tackle of which his defenders would have been proud.

The anticipated arrival of Darren Fletcher came after an hour, the teenage Manchester United midfielder replacing Ross, with Dailly dropping into a three- man defence and Fletcher and Naysmith providing the width in a middle five. The Old Trafford prodigy had no opportunity to demonstrate his potential before, in the 73rd minute, Douglas had to produce an impressive save. From another of Riise’s extraordinary throws, this time from the right, Carew’s powerful header would have given Norway the lead but for Douglas’ leap high to his left. By the time Paul Devlin had replaced Crawford and Gavin Rae had taken over from Colin Cameron – both inside the last ten minutes – it had become evident that neither side’s net was in serious danger of being disturbed.