10/08/2011 Sportscene

For a Scotland the serious staff is less than a few weeks away and we

will find out to Craig Levein and company have made it for the play-

offs for euro 2012. The friendly against Denmark was hugely

significant tonight. We will hear from Pat Nevin shortly after we

have seen half an hour of highlights with commentary from

another former Scotland international, John Robertson and

European Championship begins. The building blocks will be laid

tonight. In the last five matches against Denmark, the Scots have

lost without scoring a single goal. They Danes themselves have

qualification on their mind as well. They have no way lying in wait for

them in one month's time. -- Norway. This match is as important for the

visitors as it is for the hosts. Craig Levine leading the Scotland

side last night. A couple of survivors against the last match in

2004 -- from the last match against Denmark in 2004. Starts for Robert

Snodgrass and Danny Wilson. Some familiar names in that Denmark team.

Sorensen gets his 94th cap. Christian Eriksen looking exciting.

A few under 21 graduates on the bench for the Scottish. David

Goodwillie is a Blackburn player. Anders Lindegaard heads up the

bench for the Danes. The referee is from Malta. He was involved and the

referee strike and had been due to take part in the Cup final before

it. In 1975, Scotland last beat Denmark, in the qualifiers for euro

76. Winning tonight could give their side a boost for the games

next month. Three wins out of three should seal the play-off for the

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He seems happy with the way it is Sorensen. Excellent play. He

dropped the shoulder, put it in. That is what Scotland need to do,

He scored against West Ham, not a They must keep passing. An extra

man in midfield. This is exactly what Craig Levein will be looking

for, just that final pass was too in some quarters and in others as

an international challenge match. That was the latter. Scott Brown

does not give anything up. That was good and old fashioned. Scott Brown

gets the ball first. It does look He is clutching his ankle. That is

a disappointment for Scott Brown. the Danish one. Running along the

line. Brown's pain can mean an introduction for Don Cowie. He is

doing well for himself, moving to Snodgrass could have played that

use his feet in the end. That is top-class goalkeeping. A wonderful

save. A wonderful reverse pass. Krohn-Delhi hit it with power, but

this is why McGregor is so well hits it too hard. This is world

class. A great touch, but that is instinctive goalkeeping at its

highest quality. Don Cowie has come on, his 4th cap. A stop-start

beginning to his career. He came on pressure by Jacobsen. Promising for

the hosts. Don Cowie does this best. Box-to-box player. He gets himself

forward. Difficult to mark. It is fantastic to see him becoming a

That is a brilliant start for Scotland. Just what they wanted.

Charlie Adam takes the credit. The goalkeeper touched it on its way

through but he will not care at all. His first international goal. What

matters is that Scotland are in front. The great ball and difficult

to defend. I am pretty sure that being taken off for his ankle as a

And a promising situation for Denmark here. Yes, I think he got a

bit of a ball and a bit of the man. The referee is being very sharp.

This is a good position to swing it Eriksen and he has found the net!

The Scotland goalkeeper is left red-faced by that. Christian

Eriksen has found the net. They gave him praise for that wonderful

save but that goes down as a mistake. He got caught underneath

the ball. That was a shocker. He will be very disappointed with

himself. He is a top-class goalkeeper. For letting that in, he

will be annoyed. It has been like that all day in Glasgow, with rain

thundering down on the Park. players do like a wet surface, but

I am afraid that is too much! It Cristian Eriksen! He is a wonderful

player, he plays in an area like that and has no other thought and

to go straight for the goal. Does not catch it will and it is saved,

but what a good player and he is Danish side. It is a good save from

Allan McGregor, making amends for the mistake that led to the

equaliser. That is great goalkeeping and why he is such a

great goalkeeper. A wonderful instinct. He made a mistake, how

does he respond? It world-class save, it shows what he is about.

The Danes are threatening the game. Snodgrass gets his first

international goal in his third cap! And they have a crucial lead

just before the interval. The brilliantly taken. A fantastic goal

and it starts at the beginning. Wonderful from Gary Caldwell, a

wonderful cross to Kenny Miller, a wonderful header, and is Super goal

for Scotland! A moment that will half-time whistle. Scotland getting

back in front, the lead given to them initially. Charlie Adam has

taken credit and Allan McGregor mistake -- Allan McGregor's mistake

led to the free kick. And on the interval, Robert Snodgrass has

Scotland in front in the it -- in the International Stadium in this

match. It does not look like August, but I can assure you it is! It is

not a big crowd inside Hampden tonight, but those here are being

given a decent friendly international between Scotland and

Denmark. And it will definitely be fall for next week's qualifiers.

The Danes have made three changes at half-time. They have brought on

a blind macro. And they have brought on Niki Zimling. -- they

have brought on of Lasse Schone. nearly caught out again. -- Allan

McGregor. He did well to knock it for Smith. It is good support play

from Morrison in the corner, he takes a bit of pressure off and

gives the defenders chance to get back together again. The first time

they have made the Danish defence think in the second half. There

were too many touches from James Morrison. He has got a chance with

his right foot but he has to get it in, and he is crowded out

eventually. The Danes work it so well that they get the kick. Under

pressure, Denmark, and that is stuck in the ground! Thomas

Sorensen. Smith must have thought he got his first Scotland goal.

just tried to close it back and there was a puddle. That is a very

good save from Thomas Sorensen. it is not Denmark's strongest team

or Scotland's. And this is Cristian Eriksen, who has already made a

good impression. And a good save from Allan McGregor. He took an

eternity to get that away and Allan McGregor held on. That is another

Nicklas Pedersen. Wonderful play again, he knows he wants to play

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from Denmark, and knocking it Both teams have helped the

defenders and well. Certainly. Smith is waiting in the middle,

situation here. Wonderful football again and a decent effort, a good

strike. Allan McGregor again getting behind it and just as well

for Scotland that he did not seek a run wide left of him. Again,

Denmark showing they are a quality side. It is not their strongest

team, but they have quality players. Another opportunity for Denmark

here! And well caught out by Gary Caldwell! It was imperative he did

that and he did. Brilliant defending, Gary Caldwell using his

experience. They could not keep up with the wide run at some he got to

the threat and wonderful athleticism to clear it. And he was

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Nicholas Pedersen. Seven yards out, you have to hit the target. There

is just enough pressure put on them, It hit the palms of the goalkeeper.

Thomas Sorensen scampering across. Super strike from Barry Bannan. An

equally good save from the Stoke wonderful ball from Michael

Silberbauer. What an opportunity. Scotland are surviving at the

the Achilles, unintentional of lad all night. The audacity to try

from there! He has made McGregor around the 18 yard area. He just

every set-piece tonight. A corner kick to defend as well. I think the

big number three was in as well. It first win over Denmark since 1975

and more importantly, a morale- booster ahead of Czechoslovakia and

Lithuania when it really matters next month for Craig Levine and the

team. They will be in the group European Championship qualifiers.

Danny Wilson had a good game in defence. He is only 19. He played

like a man with 10 years more experience than that. He was good,

but so was just about everybody in this team. Gary Caldwell, the

opposite end of the spectrum. Alan McGregor, despite that the state,

pulled out some superb saves as well. A great win for the Scottish.

2-1. For spells in the game I felt that we did play in the manner that

I would like to see us play every time we take the field,

particularly attacking. We played some lengthy spells when we passed

well and the movement of the ball was good. We were brave in

possession as well. Admittedly, the Danes had a lot of pressure in the

second half and they tired out. I made some changes and introduced

some less physical players. The signs are encouraging. We are

getting better. If you go back one year to the Sweden game, you will

see a significant improvement. We cannot guarantee anything, but I do

know that we are improving. It was tough. Denmark Ra fantastic team.

They put us under a lot of pressure in the second half. But Danny and

Gary were outstanding and they kept on. The first after gusts 50

minutes to get to grips with the game but I think we played some

decent stuff. -- the first half took us 15 minutes. It's pleasing

result. I thought we started good in the first 10 minutes and then

Scotland was the better team. We had the first big chance, for

Dennis Rommedahl. We made an own goal and we were lucky, I think,

that the Scottish goalkeeper will not be satisfied. And

psychologically they made a goal in the last minutes of the first half,

but I thought in the second half we had all of the play. It is a

balance in midfield. Don Cowie did a fantastic job. We ended up with

quite an attacking team. Don Cowie is an attacking player and so are

Charlie and James Morrison. Steven Naismith is an attacking player and

so is Robert Snodgrass. So we ended up really without the energy for us

to get forward and to get back. That resulted in some tired legs

and the Danes are exploiting us in midfield in particular and at times

down the sides. But that is a top team that we are playing, way above

us in the rankings. I always work hard first and foremost for

Scotland. We are playing the right way. We are definitely progressing.

It bodes well for the up-and-coming qualifiers. Do you expect a similar

style game against the Czech Republic? Yes. There are different

things that the two teams do. They are quite dangerous. The players

will have learned a lot. For the double-header, they get plenty of

time with them. And we can look at some of the things in today's match

and see if we can improve. Sometimes when we analyse

friendlies, we think that the performance is more important than

the result. I wonder about that tonight because that will be a

result to give Scotland a big boost. Absolutely. Everybody talks about

confidence and it is important. Building up a good feeling in the

Scotland squad. You can sue the way it works. Yes, that helps, and

winning helps as well. Winning against a very good team really

helps. I know there were large parts of the game when Denmark were

the better side, holding the ball in the second half particularly,

and Scotland could not get near them in midfield. But sometimes

with teams that are technically better, you need to get a result

and Scotland got that. significant improvement was the

phrase used them. When you look back a year to the Swedish debacle,

that is progress. That is the big difference. Back then Scotland were

getting beaten and they looked frightened. They did not look like

a group, structured the right way. But they did to that. Even though

they were not in possession you were not fearful for large parts of

the game. Highly satisfying for Scotland tonight, scoring two top

quality goals. No. 1, Charlie Adam's free kick, which was just

the delivery that he would bond in and does not care who gets the

touch, so fantastic play from Charlie Adam and he is obviously

capable of doing that. And he has done that all the time. This is one

of the best Scotland goals for a long time. This is what you call

and to end, isn't it? And good passing play, but this is brilliant.

Nothing for defender can do. Kenny Miller knew what he wanted to do

and obviously Robert Snodgrass at the back has to be brave and he is

brave. And when they go back and meet up for the next game, but will

show that to the players and say, by the way, you can play and you

can pass through good teams. And I think there were periods throughout

the game that they were capable and they did do that, but not all of

the game. But that will happen at the Czech Republic. Our McGregor

conceded a goal about which he will have nightmares -- Allan McGregor.

But also he had top draw saves. is a shot stopper and we have seen

that for years from him. That is a particularly bad one and he will

have nightmares about, maybe not him because he is confident, but

there is nothing more to be said and that was a bad mistake. And he

has had that problem with Rangers. The flashy stuff that people love,

he is as fabulous as Craig Gordon, and that is high praise from the!

But also, this is your problem. the Czech Republic will look at

this and Allan McGregor will expect to be tested with cross balls from

them. That ball was moving but anything that comes in across...

And this is particularly bad. I give him some excuse for the bad

conditions, but if you are a goalkeeper and come for a cross,

you have to make it yours it is your fault. So I suspect he will

have to work on it between now and the Czech Republic. Scotland scored

twice and could have scored more goals, although we were more biased

tonight. But Denmark had better chances. Obviously Miller and

Steven Naismith know how to play together. This is good play, he

plays straight to the feed. And Steven Naismith is through, it is

just in front of him and it is a fabulous chance. Smith chases it

down and that is an important job for Scotland because Kenny Miller

does it and now someone else can do it. There are only scraps and a few

chances, but you see Scotland play as we know are capable and those

coming on such as Smith he may be able to add something and that is

important if you have a campaign. And let's look at to a result we

hope is not too significant for the progress we hope for and the Euro

2012 play-offs. It was the Czech Republic in Prague, we play them in

a couple of weeks at Hampden, and this was a bad night for Scotland

and hopefully we will not count the cost of this at a later stage. We

said we were not happy about the tactics of Craig Levein in this

game, at too defensive. But I do not think he has made many other

mistakes. If you play those tactics we did tonight against the Czech

Republic with that attitude, and a few more players capable of coming

in to strengthen the side -- to strengthen the side slightly, we

have a great chance of winning that game and we know we need to. Craig

said it was 1848 places above us in the rankings, and they are also

significantly above the Czech Republic -- 40 places. Everybody

looks at the Czech Republic and remembers the great teams and

players. But even in the first game, I was not over impressed and I

spoke to Petr Cech after and he said it was possibly the weakest

Czech Republic team he has played in. So Scotland can go for this.

They have a great opportunity. They have to play their best and we hope

everyone is back, it would be lovely if Darren Fletcher was one

of them, but there is a great opportunity. We beat a better team

tonight. So everybody behind us and a big night at Hampden, a full

house and hopefully not raining, we have every opportunity. Let's

refresh our memories to the group table. Scotland have played four

and four points, forget about Spain. It is at -- it is about the fight

at the bottom. A double header in September and October. The Czech

Republic at Hampden followed by Lithuania, and two a weight games,

Liechtenstein and Spain. Realistically, do Scotland have to

win the his first three games? worry about each one up the two

together of the most important. We have talked about the Czech

Republic and we know what we have to do. I think it is almost in the

hands of Scotland after that. I think if Scotland go out and beat

the Czech Republic, this group is good enough to go and win the two

games after that with some ease, but it is all about that and I

cannot wait. What did tonight make you think about our chances are

getting into the play-offs? I am lifted by it. Some good luck, but

the group looks like it can defend. A number of players were important

tonight. Phil Bardsley was fantastic at right back, but may be

more than anybody else off Danny Wilson. You need centre backs that