Scotland give their all but come up short

GLENN GIBBONS AT HAMPDEN

IN AN opening World Cup qualifier mercifully free of the bewilderment and dishevelment that had too often marked their endeavours in recent times, Scotland nevertheless left their expectant followers frustrated at Hampden Park last night.

A Slovenia team who became more curmudgeonly as the match moved towards its close also contrived some scoring opportunities that would surely have proved decisive if they had demonstrated more conviction in their attempted conversions. If there was disappointment, it should perhaps be diluted by the realisation that it was not the horror show it had promised to be as recently as seven days ago.

All the pessimism that had been mounting since last month’s dispiriting 3-0 defeat from Hungary seemed to be dissolved in the corrosive performance the Scots produced for most of the 59 minutes they managed to complete against Spain in Valencia last Friday.

This clearly applied to the players as well as the populace at large. Whatever depression may have been settling on them as the criticism of their work grew progressively hostile, it seemed to have been shrugged off in the course of that sojourn in Iberia, replaced by a renewed sense of their own capacity for handling the most burdensome of assignments.

Nobody in the stadium would have required more than two minutes to detect the commitment and willingness that coursed through the Scotland team that had been altered in only one place from the one that played so positively in Spain last week - Paul Dickov as the lone striker in place of Stevie Crawford.

It would have taken no longer than that, either, to determine that Slovenia would present stout resistance, the visitors themselves buoyed by a 3-0 victory over Moldova in the opening match of the campaign on Saturday and their attitude hardened by the realisation that a draw would be, for them, a wholly acceptable outcome to their visit to Glasgow.

This immediate impression confirmed not only that Vogts’s side had, almost overnight, acquired a previously unsuspected compactness, cohesion and understanding - without blinding brilliance - but that, whatever difficulties they would encounter in this crucial event, only the most churlish and grudging of their critics would be moved to accuse them of shaming their supporters.

Indeed, through a first half in which the balance of the play was so refined that a blank score-line at the interval was the least surprising aspect of the entire match, it was possible to argue that no Scottish team in Vogts’s charge had expended so much energy and commitment to exerting pressure on opponents, home or away.

This regeneration was led by Barry Ferguson, the Blackburn midfielder at last beginning to reproduce in a dark blue shirt some of the form that had teased Graeme Souness into prising him from Rangers at a cost of £7.5million. Always available, relentlessly probing, the others took their lead from the captain and set about their work with unshakeable tenacity.

They were a little unfortunate not to open the scoring early, when Nigel Quashie’s shot was blocked into the air and headed back towards Dickov by James McFadden, the Blackburn striker’s shot itself then deflected over the head of Borut Mavric, who prevented the goal by leaping and stretching backwards to make the merest contact with his outstretched right hand and tip the ball over.

During that period of swarming intent by the Scots, there was a legitimate penalty claim when McFadden was taken from behind by the careless Andreij Komac - referee Claus Bo Larsen rejected the plea - and McFadden was allowed, by another injudicious piece of refereeing, to chip from the left after the ball had clearly crossed the bye-line. It fell to Darren Fletcher, who hesitated before flicking the ball weakly straight at the goalkeeper.

There was a certain menace about the Slovenians when they moved forward, but Malky Mackay and his colleagues in defence were alert and strong, confining actual scoring attempts to a fierce shot from Ermin Siljak which Craig Gordon simply pushed straight into the air.

However, the Slovenians were much more threatening in two moments of mishap in the Scotland defence early in the second half that could have led to damage that would have amounted to wreckage.

A long, speculative cross from Amir Karic on the left seemed to be safely covered by Gordon, but the goalkeeper and Mackay suddenly collided and the ball spun loose to the waiting Siljak, who had only to push it into the unprotected net from eight yards. Instead, he executed an embarrassing mis-hit and the ball struck the supine Mackay before running into the arms of the goalkeeper.

That escape effected, the Scots were immediately pressured once again from the left, this time the ball running to Nastja Ceh, who, back to goal, rolled it into the path of the unchallenged Milenko Acimovic. Having scored a hat-trick against Moldova, the midfielder might have been expected to strike the drive with the conviction of the ultra-confident. Instead, he leaned back and, from only 12 yards, side-footed the ball too high, grazing the top of the crossbar.

That was a dark period for the home side, capped by the instant of alarm when a long-range drive from Ceh slipped through the hands of Gordon and rolled towards the line. The young Hearts goalkeeper recovered in time to flop on it just short of the point at which it would have given Slovenia the lead.

This series of opportunities, which could not have been anticipated from the generally bland forward play of the visitors during the hour or so that preceded it, seemed to characterise a swelling confidence in the Slovenians, as if they could sense that the draw they would have found quite satisfactory could be parlayed into the enormous bonus of an away win.

The match had never appeared likely to offer Vogts’s side a smooth ride, but, without Mavric’s fine save from Quashie’s fierce 25-yard drive, the route would have seemed a little less cobbled.

Scotland: Gordon; G Caldwell, Webster, Mackay, Naysmith (Holt 59); McNamara; Fletcher, Ferguson, McFadden, Quashie; Dickov (Crawford 80). Subs not used: Marshall, Miller, Cameron, Pearson, Anderson.

Slovenia: B Mavric; Pokorn, Knavs, M. Mavric, Karic; Seslar; Komac, Ceh; Acimovic; Siljak (Lavric 64), Dedic (Sukalo 79). Subs not used: Handanovic, Tanjic, Cesar, Sukalo, Koren, Ilic, lavric.

Referee: CB Larsen (Den)