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we need you to vote on people's portrait when the lines open this | :00:00. | :00:07. | |
Friday. For now, good luck on tonight's football. A bit of luck | :00:07. | :00:10. | |
would be nice, Alex. Welcome to Sportscene, only once has the | :00:11. | :00:15. | |
Scotland football team ended the qualifying stages for a major | :00:15. | :00:17. | |
international tournament in the bottom spot. | :00:17. | :00:25. | |
That was back in the early 80s, Gordon Strachan was a player and | :00:25. | :00:27. | |
then stage and he doesn't fancy the same again as the Scotland manager. | :00:27. | :00:34. | |
It is live on the BBC. We will hear later from these two, Pat Nevin and | :00:34. | :00:40. | |
Craig Gordon, but let's get straight to Skopje and our commentary team, | :00:40. | :00:42. | |
Billy Dodds and Liam McLeod. It is exactly one year since | :00:42. | :00:50. | |
Macedonia visited Hampden park in what many felt was a must win match | :00:50. | :00:56. | |
for Scotland. The Scots have gone rapidly downhill since then in this | :00:56. | :01:01. | |
group. The win in Zagreb apart. This has been one of the poorest ever | :01:01. | :01:05. | |
attempt to qualify for a major finals in memory. The Potter date -- | :01:05. | :01:10. | |
possibility of finishing at the bottom of the group, like San | :01:10. | :01:13. | |
Marino, the Faroe Islands elsewhere, is now a distinct, | :01:13. | :01:20. | |
horrific possibility. They can also still finished third, albeit that | :01:20. | :01:24. | |
would take two wins and a strange set of results elsewhere. | :01:24. | :01:33. | |
# But we can still rise now. # And be the nation again. | :01:34. | :02:56. | |
# But we can still rise now. # And be the nation again. # But we can | :02:56. | :03:03. | |
still rise now. # And be the nation again. | :03:03. | :03:07. | |
this group of Scotland players will try and win both their remaining | :03:07. | :03:56. | |
matches in a bid to try and stave off the bottom spot, both here in | :03:56. | :04:01. | |
Skopje and when Croatia visit Glasgow in the final match of the | :04:01. | :04:04. | |
group next month. Freddie's defeated to build and was | :04:04. | :04:10. | |
disappointed but hardly unexpected. As Michael Friday's defeat. | :04:10. | :04:16. | |
Macedonia are the only team in the group ranked below Scotland in the | :04:16. | :04:25. | |
FIFA world rankings. They have been buoyed by wins over Bulgaria last | :04:25. | :04:29. | |
month and the Welsh, also here last Friday night. | :04:29. | :04:40. | |
Last time the Scots were here, they also lost, George Burley's first | :04:40. | :04:50. | |
competitive match in charge of the national side. The Macedonian coach | :04:50. | :05:00. | |
has handed player-3-macro is first international start. | :05:00. | :05:07. | |
The officials tonight or from France and led by a 41-year-old banker, , | :05:07. | :05:17. | |
Fredy Fautrel. David Marshall, looking to pick up | :05:17. | :05:25. | |
his first clean sheet as a Scotland goalkeeper. He hasn't been on the | :05:25. | :05:33. | |
winning side, either, when he has been selected. Of course, Alan | :05:33. | :05:37. | |
McGregor, the first choice now, injured. | :05:37. | :05:42. | |
Scott Brown and Goran Pandev, what a talent he is. He bossed things at | :05:42. | :05:50. | |
pound -- and in part in the meeting 12 months ago. -- at Hampden. James | :05:50. | :06:01. | |
Forrest has been worsening an injury so he and the suspended Snodgrass | :06:01. | :06:12. | |
will not play tonight. It is a first start for Watford's Ikechi Anya on | :06:12. | :06:19. | |
the left. The Scots go looking for a second group a victory. | :06:19. | :06:28. | |
Although Scotland fans hope and some sect that macro expected from the | :06:28. | :06:37. | |
Serbia and Macedonia double-header ideal ago six points, but 12 months | :06:37. | :06:42. | |
later the Scots still haven't picked up six points, just the win over | :06:42. | :06:46. | |
Croatia to go with the opening drawers in a campaign full of | :06:46. | :06:50. | |
disappointment. There was disappointment here the last time | :06:50. | :06:55. | |
the Scots visited Skopje in George Burley's competitive fixture. The | :06:55. | :07:05. | |
arena has had a face-lift since then. They have spent something in | :07:05. | :07:09. | |
the region of £60 million on a refurbishment. Sadly, the pitch | :07:09. | :07:15. | |
looks in need of an upgrade, Billy Dodds. Yes, it looks really poor. | :07:15. | :07:19. | |
There is an athletics track around here and you wonder what kind of | :07:19. | :07:25. | |
sport is played on the pitch. I saw people out replacing holes. Gordon | :07:25. | :07:27. | |
Strachan was talking about it before the game. I can only imagine how | :07:27. | :07:37. | |
Gordon Strachan is failing. Looking at the two games played so far, we | :07:37. | :07:42. | |
thought Serbia would be the hard one, but for me Macedonia was the | :07:42. | :07:46. | |
hard won at Hampden. I would take one point here tonight and I am sure | :07:46. | :07:49. | |
Gordon Strachan would come as well, and a good performance. I would bite | :07:49. | :07:55. | |
the hand of them for that win. Fourth meeting with Macedonia. This | :07:55. | :08:06. | |
is Ikechi Anya. He looked quite lively against Belgium on Friday | :08:06. | :08:07. | |
night. Both Mulgrew and Brown were | :08:07. | :08:20. | |
excellent in the engine room against the Belgians. You can see the bobble | :08:20. | :08:25. | |
on the ball as it made its way across to Alan Hutton. | :08:25. | :08:36. | |
Already we are seeing some good movement in the final third. | :08:37. | :08:42. | |
We look as if we are getting support, Shaun Maloney find himself | :08:42. | :08:49. | |
in that left channel. I doubt whether that was offside at all, but | :08:49. | :08:57. | |
good movement, good to see Maloney getting into those times of areas. | :08:57. | :09:09. | |
It will be interesting to see how he plays, the number eight. He plays in | :09:09. | :09:21. | |
the Second Division in Spain. High hopes for him. That is Alan Hutton | :09:21. | :09:27. | |
going along looking for the run of Brown. And we're back with Thomas | :09:27. | :09:37. | |
Bukovsky, the Macedonian goalkeeper. As macro Tomislav Packovski. -- | :09:37. | :09:42. | |
Tomislav Packovski. Player-5-macro, the man who opened | :09:42. | :09:54. | |
the scoring at Hampden park, Kenny Miller cancelled it out. It really | :09:54. | :09:58. | |
has been one big struggle since then. -- player-5-macro. | :09:58. | :10:22. | |
Ikechi Anya cannot prevent the corner, the first of the match and | :10:22. | :10:28. | |
it goes to the hosts. He had to cover, because Steven Whittaker was | :10:28. | :10:33. | |
sucked into the central role, and Anya has too much the overlapping | :10:33. | :10:36. | |
full-back. He did that with aplomb but had to | :10:36. | :10:40. | |
give away the corner, good defence by Anya. | :10:40. | :10:53. | |
Three to fit in the middle in red, but we are setting up for another | :10:53. | :10:56. | |
corner. Pandev of Napoli going to take this, | :10:56. | :11:12. | |
30 years old, he seems to have been around for ever. | :11:12. | :11:19. | |
I was worried about the back post area, but not to matter, David | :11:19. | :11:31. | |
Marshall claimant collected. Grant Hanley on his 10th cap | :11:31. | :11:48. | |
tonight. He and Russell Martin came in and played so well against | :11:48. | :11:53. | |
Croatia in June. Gordon Strachan has stuck with them. | :11:53. | :11:57. | |
In behind Giorgevski, almost found Steven Naismith, as well. A positive | :11:58. | :12:18. | |
run. There is no flag this time. He | :12:18. | :12:32. | |
decided to have a go, it just dropped over his shoulder. I think | :12:32. | :12:38. | |
it is sitting there to be hit. He certainly knew really goal was. He | :12:38. | :12:42. | |
couldn't get the direction, Steven Naismith, but it was a good effort. | :12:42. | :12:46. | |
A lovely height to try and find the far post. it was a good ball across, | :12:46. | :13:03. | |
Maloney and Naismith were in there, just about How important would win | :13:03. | :13:14. | |
tonight be? It would be massive in terms of confidence, get off the | :13:14. | :13:17. | |
bottom of the group. We shouldn't be finishing there but that is where we | :13:17. | :13:20. | |
are and we have to be realistic, it will be a tough job against | :13:20. | :13:22. | |
Macedonia, they are a good team. Already, we saw on Friday night, | :13:22. | :14:15. | |
Leigh Griffiths, he was a peripheral figure, really. It was just the way | :14:15. | :14:21. | |
the Belgians played the game, they didn't allow us into the match at | :14:21. | :14:24. | |
all. But already, we are seeing, didn't allow us into the match at | :14:24. | :14:28. | |
albeit against a lesser opponent, Naismith and Maloney and Griffiths | :14:28. | :14:37. | |
making an impact on this match. It is the difference in quality. We | :14:37. | :14:44. | |
have to be realistic. We have to be judged... We are as good as | :14:44. | :14:48. | |
Macedonia, we just have to prove it and we haven't yet this campaign. | :14:48. | :15:15. | |
Macedonia came from Potter five when the draw was made for this group -- | :15:15. | :15:26. | |
pot five. Scotland were in pot four, worried looks like will be for | :15:26. | :15:33. | |
friends 2016, the draw for which is made in mid-February. -- Frantz | :15:33. | :15:37. | |
2016. Still no great pressure on us, | :15:37. | :16:14. | |
allowing us to get on the ball, get a feel of it. | :16:14. | :16:23. | |
Something that Scotland are not blessed with the night of the front | :16:23. | :16:29. | |
its height, Steven Naismith is the tallest at five feet ten. | :16:29. | :16:35. | |
Grant Hanley will be looking for a strong start. It was his error that | :16:35. | :16:41. | |
led to the second Belgian goal on Friday. Just as it looked as though | :16:41. | :16:44. | |
it was petering out to a 1-0 defeat. They have done a terrific job with | :16:44. | :17:06. | |
the stadium here. It is all enclosed now, but 33,000 capacity, not even | :17:06. | :17:19. | |
half full tonight. Janevski, the Macedonian coach, on the right. | :17:19. | :17:39. | |
Too much on at that time. They are going to try and get the ball to him | :17:39. | :17:46. | |
as often as they can and you can see why. He certainly looks an outlet so | :17:46. | :17:53. | |
far. He looks the danger man to Scotland. | :17:53. | :18:34. | |
Good play by Alan Hutton, brought down. Free kick level with the | :18:34. | :18:38. | |
penalty spot. No doubt there, Hutton goes to the | :18:38. | :18:51. | |
deck, pics of the free kick in a dangerous position. -- picks up. | :18:51. | :18:57. | |
Wrist of skee was the offender, plays his football in Italy. | :18:57. | :19:12. | |
It has got to be two or three yards further out, make the goalkeeper | :19:12. | :19:16. | |
think. It was too close to him. We haven't seen much of the number | :19:16. | :19:38. | |
nine Macedonia. When Scotland were losing to Belgium | :19:38. | :20:15. | |
on Friday night, Macedonia were beating Wales 2-1. | :20:15. | :20:48. | |
There is a good zip about the Scottish performance so far. | :20:48. | :20:57. | |
Roar goes up from the Macedonian fans as Goran Pandev picks it up on | :20:57. | :21:01. | |
the counter. David Marshall prevents the corner, | :21:01. | :21:31. | |
to the anger of the natives. The linesman, you can see him, that is | :21:31. | :21:34. | |
where he was standing. He couldn't cover the distance to see whether it | :21:34. | :21:39. | |
was out or not, we may have got away with one there. | :21:39. | :21:52. | |
He would love a clean sheet tonight, David Marshall. It is 19 goals in | :21:52. | :21:58. | |
seven caps that he has conceded. Kiichi and yet testing Georgievski | :21:58. | :22:07. | |
again. I like the movement, they are | :22:07. | :22:35. | |
playing the two lines of America for and the likes of Maloney, they don't | :22:35. | :22:41. | |
know whether to leave him or move into the space -- two lines of four. | :22:41. | :22:53. | |
Speaker it will be difficult for the | :22:53. | :23:20. | |
Scottish tonight with set pieces, crossing it in, with the Macedonian | :23:20. | :23:27. | |
height. 1,000 Scotland fans, we think, made | :23:27. | :24:11. | |
the trip to the Balkans for the third time this campaign. They have | :24:11. | :24:12. | |
been to Serbia and Croatia already. Pandev trying to hook it towards | :24:12. | :24:28. | |
goal. He was in between three bodies, it was too easy, in terms of | :24:28. | :24:33. | |
what Scotland want to do defensively. He just couldn't get to | :24:33. | :24:37. | |
touch he needed to control it. But the danger was there. By a long way, | :24:37. | :24:46. | |
Pandev is the top scorer in Macedonia's International history. | :24:46. | :24:50. | |
26 times he has scored in 73 caps before tonight. | :24:50. | :24:57. | |
Big basketball finals on in Macedonia just now, perhaps that is | :24:57. | :25:03. | |
something to do with the crowd. It wasn't great when Chris Coleman's | :25:03. | :25:11. | |
Wales were here on Friday either. They had independence day to | :25:11. | :25:13. | |
celebrate on Sunday two, 22 years has passed since they broke away | :25:13. | :25:16. | |
from the former Yugoslavia. Ikechi Anya was in lots of space on | :25:16. | :25:33. | |
the left hand side. He is still there. Still out there. | :25:33. | :25:50. | |
Gordon Strachan, always so animated. He said yesterday, he just wants to | :25:50. | :25:58. | |
get some wins under the belt. It is all very well about people talking | :25:58. | :26:01. | |
about the fact they are moving forward, there is more positivity in | :26:01. | :26:08. | |
the camp, he beat Estonia in his first match in charge at the tawdry, | :26:08. | :26:18. | |
and then the wind in Croatia. -- at Pittodrie and then the winning | :26:18. | :26:19. | |
and then the wind in Croatia. -- at Croatia was most unexpected. | :26:19. | :26:30. | |
You have to say, it is a much better Scottish performance than we saw | :26:30. | :26:36. | |
against the same opposition 12 months ago. It is practically the | :26:36. | :26:38. | |
against the same opposition 12 same team, a couple of changes but | :26:38. | :26:43. | |
pretty much the same side that Macedonia have put out there. | :26:43. | :27:01. | |
Macedonia certainly weren't giving the ball away as often at Hampden | :27:01. | :27:09. | |
Park. Its users to come here, we have lost control and we can -- it | :27:09. | :27:17. | |
suits us to come here, we have looked control and we can | :27:17. | :27:17. | |
counterattack. Good loud call. Two crosses he has | :27:18. | :28:03. | |
had to deal with. There was a little push their on | :28:03. | :28:20. | |
Naismith. Spotted by the French official. | :28:20. | :28:56. | |
It has gone right through to Bukovsky, an anti-climax. | :28:56. | :29:05. | |
Et al a lot of pace on it, they were never going to be able to get onto | :29:05. | :29:11. | |
the end of it, the three players on the right-hand side of the box. | :29:11. | :29:23. | |
The man in the middle just having a quick word with Grant Hanley for | :29:23. | :29:26. | |
that. Maloney trying to knock it off the | :29:26. | :30:11. | |
Macedonian player, but it didn't work. So the pressure will continue | :30:11. | :30:13. | |
on the Scottish defence. Martin is primarily a fallback at | :30:13. | :30:53. | |
his club, Norwich City -- a full back. | :30:53. | :31:05. | |
John Toshack left Macedonia last year, just before World Cup | :31:05. | :31:11. | |
qualification got underway. That was the one area where there | :31:11. | :31:51. | |
was nobody in a Scottish jersey, but again, that is the outlet. It is his | :31:51. | :31:57. | |
determination to get there, great pace. It is a pity Barry back and | :31:57. | :32:01. | |
had gone to the front post. If he had hand-out, he might have had a | :32:01. | :32:03. | |
better opportunity -- Barry Bannon. A lot of good passing from Scotland | :32:03. | :32:42. | |
tonight, they are retaining the ball a lot better than they have had died | :32:42. | :32:49. | |
macro in other matches -- than they have in other matches. | :32:50. | :32:58. | |
That is a quart of -- quality class in from Anya. I think he should have | :32:58. | :33:05. | |
done better, Steven Naismith, it doesn't look as if he is a long way | :33:05. | :33:07. | |
off the ground. Look who is on his own again, | :33:08. | :33:30. | |
Giorgevski trying to get back at him. The change of pace, almost came | :33:30. | :33:36. | |
back to Naismith. Brown will retrieve. | :33:36. | :33:42. | |
That is good play from Scotland once more. This time it came down the | :33:42. | :33:46. | |
right flank with Alan Hutton. Nearly twice for Steven Naismith, | :33:46. | :33:57. | |
again from Anya, outstanding wing play, a quality cross, as well. Then | :33:57. | :34:01. | |
Naismith, again, nearly on the end of it, Hutton that time. Nearly | :34:01. | :34:04. | |
there. Well, it is the first Scotland | :34:04. | :34:16. | |
corner of the match, Barry Bannan. The keeper thought about coming, | :34:16. | :34:18. | |
changed his mind. Grant Hanley has already scored in | :34:18. | :34:29. | |
this qualification campaign. This is obviously a training ground | :34:29. | :34:33. | |
set piece because the two or three at the front post turn as if they | :34:33. | :34:36. | |
are running into their own men and split again, and it leaves Hanley on | :34:36. | :34:41. | |
his own at the back post, you just can't direct it on target. They look | :34:41. | :34:45. | |
like they are really open, they don't look comfortable playing at | :34:45. | :34:50. | |
home. At Hampden Park they were able to come and attack us, but tonight | :34:50. | :34:53. | |
the onus is on them and we are causing them problems tonight, | :34:54. | :34:58. | |
especially in behind the midfield and back line, they are finding a | :34:58. | :34:59. | |
lot of space in there. Babunski we have not seen much of | :34:59. | :35:10. | |
yet, but he has floated that one forward for Goran Pandev. | :35:10. | :35:15. | |
New has hardly touched it in the match so far, Pandev. | :35:16. | :35:21. | |
He has pretty much spent his entire career in Italy. He went to Napoli | :35:21. | :35:23. | |
couple of summers ago. He was at Inter Milan and Lazio, as | :35:23. | :35:35. | |
well, it was at Lazio that he played a really prominent role in Serie A. | :35:35. | :35:53. | |
Sikov beat Naismith to it. The flag is up. | :35:53. | :36:07. | |
All that is missing is a goal, isn't it? There is no doubt they have been | :36:07. | :36:14. | |
pretty solid in defence, a good, high line, nullified Pandev's space. | :36:14. | :36:21. | |
Certainly the three in behind Steven Naismith are causing loads of | :36:21. | :36:26. | |
problems. Brown finds himself facing Pandev on | :36:26. | :36:30. | |
the edge of his own penalty area. Well dealt with. | :36:30. | :36:41. | |
The pitch in that half is cutting up dreadfully now, as Mulgrew goes | :36:41. | :37:15. | |
down, Babunski picks up and finds Pandev, and there is a rampaging run | :37:15. | :37:21. | |
to the left from Aleksandar Trajkovski. He couldn't find him. | :37:21. | :37:34. | |
I hear Serbia have taken the lead against Wales, 1-0. That is the | :37:34. | :37:56. | |
other game taking place in the group tonight. Gordon Strachan, pensive. | :37:56. | :38:01. | |
He must be reasonably happy with what he is seeing out there, though. | :38:01. | :38:07. | |
It is not often in recent times that Scotland have come to an away | :38:07. | :38:11. | |
fixture, a competitive away fixture, against a troublesome side, and had | :38:11. | :38:15. | |
the better of the opening half an hour. They certainly have tonight. | :38:15. | :38:29. | |
Naismith, Bannan and Maloney all in the box. Goalkick only. | :38:29. | :38:40. | |
He has been the star man so far. Blessed with great pains, as well, | :38:40. | :38:45. | |
causing problems, but that delivery, as well, he can be quick, rabbit, | :38:46. | :38:49. | |
but sometimes the delivery lets you down. His certainly hasn't so far. | :38:50. | :38:57. | |
-- he can be quick, rapid. He is going to come from nowhere, Ikechi | :38:57. | :39:02. | |
Anya, he has had a good season and a half with Watford. | :39:02. | :39:07. | |
Nigerian father, Romanian mother, he started his life in Castlemilk in | :39:07. | :39:11. | |
Glasgow. Naismith has managed to feed it through for Brown, what a | :39:11. | :39:15. | |
chance! That should be 1-0 to the visitors. | :39:15. | :39:22. | |
The best chance of the game so far. First thoughts, I am thinking, lift | :39:22. | :39:28. | |
it! Brilliant for Naismith, he gets off his markers. A lovely ball | :39:28. | :39:32. | |
through, I think he just has to pop it over the goalkeeper, Scott Brown. | :39:32. | :39:40. | |
Very encouraging. The goalkeeper is fuel, Tomislav Packovski. | :39:40. | :39:53. | |
Only two targets in the box there, Brown and Bannan. Naismith had | :39:53. | :40:03. | |
started the move. Yes, but they are knocking on the | :40:03. | :40:09. | |
door. They haven't busted the door down yet, though. They just seem | :40:09. | :40:11. | |
sharper than the hosts. Macedonia, looking for arrest third | :40:11. | :40:32. | |
win on the bounce -- looking for a array third win on the bench. They | :40:32. | :40:36. | |
beat Bulgaria and then had a 2-1 win over the Welsh. | :40:36. | :40:41. | |
The Tartan Army could have a new favourite here in Ikechi Anya. He | :40:41. | :40:48. | |
looks as if he is growing in confidence by the minute, doesn't | :40:49. | :40:52. | |
he? A little trick on that occasion. Comfortable at this level. | :40:52. | :41:05. | |
Nikolce Noveski over to Stefan Ristovski. | :41:05. | :41:23. | |
I am not sure if the referee overruled his linesman on the other | :41:23. | :41:32. | |
half of the field, he initially gave this throw to Macedonia. Fredy | :41:32. | :41:34. | |
Fautrel has given it the other way. Just over ten minutes to half-time. | :41:34. | :42:19. | |
Scotland, trying to get their noses in front before the interval. They | :42:19. | :42:21. | |
deserve to be ahead. That Scott Brown opportunity, the | :42:21. | :42:30. | |
pick of the bunch so far. Whittaker, now at Norwich city. | :42:30. | :42:51. | |
There is a couple of times Steven Whittaker in the last minute, it | :42:51. | :42:55. | |
looks as though he is just about to sell a team-mate short with a pass. | :42:55. | :43:03. | |
Anya busting a gut to get into the middle there, he has come out, but | :43:03. | :43:10. | |
so is the goalkeeper. Leaving an opening, he fancied himself there. | :43:10. | :43:13. | |
And it breaks up to Ivan Trickovski. A difficult ball for Naismith to | :43:13. | :43:58. | |
control there. That is good again, Brown, no space | :43:58. | :44:22. | |
for Pandev to play in, ten yards apart, in four cuts it out. They are | :44:22. | :44:31. | |
keeping Pandev quiet as a mouse now, can to give him a yard. -- cannot | :44:31. | :44:36. | |
give him. There are three waiting in the | :44:36. | :44:46. | |
middle in Macedonian shirts. Maloney applying the pressure, | :44:47. | :44:55. | |
Ristovski has managed to get it in but it is Marshall's all the way. It | :44:55. | :45:00. | |
is warm and humid here tonight, but nothing converted to the conditions | :45:00. | :45:03. | |
the Scots faced last time they came here. Gordon Strachan brought the | :45:03. | :45:08. | |
squad out on Sunday, last time they came out the day before and were | :45:08. | :45:11. | |
playing the match at 5pm in the afternoon. It was at the same time | :45:11. | :45:15. | |
of year and at 5pm this afternoon temperatures over 30 Celsius. I was | :45:15. | :45:23. | |
here, and I tell you what, I was just tired commentating on it, it | :45:23. | :45:27. | |
was that warm. We didn't play well on the day, as | :45:27. | :45:30. | |
well, we didn't deserve anything from the game. | :45:30. | :45:36. | |
Lost that 11-0, then Macedonia popping up in a qualification group | :45:36. | :45:40. | |
couple of campaigns later. -- we lost that 1-0. | :45:41. | :45:49. | |
I don't know if he was brought down by Trajkovski there, the referee | :45:49. | :45:52. | |
wasn't impressed with Hutton going down. | :45:52. | :46:19. | |
Russell Martin asked a lot of Maloney there. Trying to feed it out | :46:19. | :46:29. | |
to Alan Hutton. That is unfortunate. Aleksandar Trajkovski on it. | :46:30. | :46:38. | |
Trajkovski played it in. Sikov steps into it, Macedonia trying to finish | :46:38. | :46:49. | |
the first half strongly. Six minutes to go. | :46:50. | :46:55. | |
Naismith. It is very out there Michael for Naismith, he is getting | :46:55. | :47:05. | |
support melodies. -- it is very lonely out there for Naismith. | :47:05. | :47:19. | |
Mulgrew will be in Italy next week on champions league duty with Celtic | :47:19. | :47:26. | |
in their opening match against AC Milan a week tomorrow. | :47:26. | :47:59. | |
If it does look as though they are going to make a change in a moment | :47:59. | :48:02. | |
or two, before the interval. Mulgrew losing output at the referee | :48:02. | :48:28. | |
has given the free kick to Scotland. The change is being made and it is | :48:28. | :48:35. | |
Babunksi, the Barcelona reserve player who is going to be coming | :48:35. | :48:43. | |
off, replaced by Tasevski. We have seen how they were shaping up, I | :48:43. | :48:46. | |
don't think it was working for them, the way they were shaping up. | :48:46. | :48:54. | |
Babunksi, I don't know if he has picked up an injury, but he was all | :48:54. | :48:58. | |
over the place trying to match up the Scotland movement and suddenly | :48:59. | :49:02. | |
he is hooked. Whether it is an injury or not, I don't know, but I | :49:02. | :49:07. | |
don't think Macedonia's shape was working, that is visual. That is a | :49:07. | :49:17. | |
direct replacement, Babunksi for Kevin skee. It is his 44th cap, he | :49:17. | :49:29. | |
did play against Wales -- for Kevin Tasevski. | :49:29. | :50:04. | |
A good save, Naismith was waiting in the middle but Ikechi Anya could not | :50:05. | :50:20. | |
resist. It was there to be hit and with the confidence he has played | :50:20. | :50:28. | |
with so far, it was worth a go. He was quite right to just wrap his | :50:28. | :50:32. | |
foot around that. Pretty straightforward for the goalkeeper. | :50:32. | :50:53. | |
Just wondering whether Scott Brown was a better option. Here is the | :50:53. | :51:01. | |
counter. Macedonia flooding forward. This would be a hammer blow... It | :51:01. | :51:10. | |
was waiting for the cutback, Pandev was waiting on the six yard line to | :51:10. | :51:14. | |
knock it in, but it didn't arrive for him, and for Scotland's sake, it | :51:14. | :51:24. | |
is a good job it didn't. Any cutback, they probably score. It is | :51:24. | :51:26. | |
just a blessing for us that he has cutback, they probably score. It is | :51:26. | :51:34. | |
picked the wrong option, because they had other options. I was going | :51:34. | :51:36. | |
back to Scott Brown, Russell Martin could have got out the way let Scott | :51:36. | :51:56. | |
Brown have a go. Pandev was I rate with the player there. -- I rate. | :51:56. | :52:07. | |
I don't think the player at the back post was too happy either, he may be | :52:07. | :52:14. | |
getting a thumping from two or three. A Scotland free kick, | :52:14. | :52:15. | |
meantime. Macedonia are doing just enough. | :52:15. | :52:46. | |
Illegal from Grant Hanley, says the referee. What have you made of the | :52:46. | :52:51. | |
first half? Excellent so far by Scotland, all that is missing is a | :52:52. | :52:56. | |
goal. They have created a few chances, Anya in particular has been | :52:56. | :53:00. | |
the star of the show. We looked dangerous. I think it suits us, I | :53:00. | :53:04. | |
think Gordon Strachan will be content, lots of possession, picking | :53:04. | :53:08. | |
the right passes and a lot of movement and pace. So far, we just | :53:08. | :53:12. | |
have to watch. We saw that a minute before half-time, we were up for a | :53:13. | :53:16. | |
set piece and committed people forward and we really could and | :53:16. | :53:18. | |
should have been punished. That is it for the first half. | :53:18. | :53:40. | |
Really good, encouraging performance from the Scots, you have to say. | :53:40. | :53:45. | |
They look like they have a hero in Ikechi Anya, who has brought out a | :53:45. | :53:49. | |
save from the goalkeeper. Scott Brown with a massive chance, | :53:49. | :53:54. | |
one-on-one with the Macedonian goalkeeper, who pulled up the save. | :53:54. | :54:00. | |
Anya has caused all sorts of problems of the left-hand side, he | :54:00. | :54:04. | |
looks like he has a good future with the Scotland international team. But | :54:04. | :54:10. | |
at half-time, it is 0-0. And the only disappointment is the | :54:10. | :54:13. | |
scoreline so far, that has been really impressive for Scotland in | :54:13. | :54:22. | |
Skopje. Two matches in Group A this evening affecting bottom spot. | :54:22. | :54:28. | |
Serbia are ahead in Cardiff by one goal to nil. Serbia going ahead | :54:28. | :54:34. | |
after nine minutes. If those calls were to be final scores, Scotland | :54:34. | :54:37. | |
and Wales would be level on points at the bottom of Group A, but goals | :54:37. | :54:42. | |
so far in Skopje. Let's get the thoughts of Pat Nevin and Craig | :54:43. | :54:46. | |
Gordon. I am pleasantly surprised a bad performance, Pat. You? I am | :54:47. | :54:53. | |
going past pleasantly surprised. That is the best 45 minutes on the | :54:53. | :54:56. | |
Gordon Strachan, brilliant play, creating chances. A lot of the best | :54:56. | :55:02. | |
play. You could hear the booing at the end of the half, the home | :55:02. | :55:05. | |
supporters are not happy at all. They have had to make one change | :55:05. | :55:09. | |
before half-time, they have created one decent chance towards the end | :55:09. | :55:12. | |
and I think Georgievski, he has gone one decent chance towards the end | :55:12. | :55:16. | |
down for a cup of tea and some therapy, because he has got hammered | :55:16. | :55:21. | |
in the half. Get the ball out to Anya every second you can. They have | :55:21. | :55:25. | |
looked a poor team, Macedonia, but we have to remember how well they | :55:25. | :55:29. | |
played at Hampden a year ago and they beat Wales on Friday night. | :55:30. | :55:34. | |
Scotland have managed to make them look ordinary. Yes, that is down to | :55:34. | :55:37. | |
the way Scotland have played, the shape we have got and the switches | :55:37. | :55:42. | |
play, especially to Anya on the left-hand side, have caused them all | :55:42. | :55:46. | |
sorts of problems. He seems to have the pace on the right back, he has | :55:46. | :55:51. | |
come outside, got the ball, had a run at him, and got that fallback on | :55:51. | :55:59. | |
toast. -- full back. His final ball hasn't been ideal, a couple | :55:59. | :56:01. | |
occasions it could have been better but the more he gets on the ball, he | :56:01. | :56:06. | |
will create something. That is the name, Ikechi Anya, that was not on | :56:06. | :56:11. | |
the radar for the Tartan Army a few weeks ago. He made an impact on the | :56:11. | :56:15. | |
bench against Belgium and he has been a major threat to night. First | :56:15. | :56:21. | |
of all, I am delighted for him, he's incredibly positive. I'm a bit | :56:21. | :56:24. | |
jealous, imagine getting the ball but much as a winger. That is the | :56:24. | :56:28. | |
first ten seconds of the game, the first thing he does is positive. But | :56:28. | :56:33. | |
it is not all about going forward, great pace and willingness to get | :56:33. | :56:37. | |
back and cover. But this is willingness to go beyond. It is one | :56:37. | :56:41. | |
of the things we have said, we have not had a real pace for a long time. | :56:41. | :56:46. | |
It is hard to think back when we have had real pace, and we can | :56:46. | :56:49. | |
think, we are in trouble, go and switch it wide and switch it long. | :56:49. | :56:54. | |
As Craig said, the final ball has not been great, but look at this, | :56:54. | :57:00. | |
time and again. Georgievski will be asking to go off. Once or twice, the | :57:00. | :57:05. | |
problem has been that he is so quick, nobody in the middle is able | :57:05. | :57:09. | |
to keep up with him. It gives us such a different guy mentioned going | :57:09. | :57:13. | |
in behind like that, having the pace. This one, everyone is trying | :57:13. | :57:17. | |
to catch up. He has to hold it up and again, the final ball wasn't | :57:17. | :57:21. | |
perfect. But for a team to be able to have that option to played into | :57:22. | :57:31. | |
that area and know he's going to get on the end of it and create | :57:31. | :57:33. | |
something. That was a great ball. This one is a really good as well, | :57:33. | :57:37. | |
one of his best moments of the game. I think the last thing they expected | :57:37. | :57:41. | |
was a shot from this point. He really has mixed it up. It is | :57:41. | :57:44. | |
certainly worth seeing again, because the way he takes it, it is a | :57:44. | :57:48. | |
bobbly pitch, but he takes it first time. Just doesn't get enough bend | :57:48. | :57:54. | |
on it. He has hardly done anything wrong, apart from that final ball | :57:54. | :57:59. | |
into the middle. But he has not always got a lot to aim at. But I | :57:59. | :58:03. | |
would love to see him keep it up, I thought he would run out of energy | :58:03. | :58:06. | |
by now but if you are playing that well, getting that much of the ball, | :58:06. | :58:13. | |
the full back is losing the energy. Lots of people wondered about Steven | :58:13. | :58:16. | |
Naismith in the main striking position, how would that go. | :58:16. | :58:17. | |
Naismith in the main striking position, how would It couldn't have | :58:17. | :58:22. | |
gone much better. I knew he would do well in that respect. He is always | :58:22. | :58:26. | |
fighting for the ball, he is a pest for defenders, a horrible striker to | :58:26. | :58:30. | |
play against. That was a nasty tackle, he was lucky not to get | :58:30. | :58:34. | |
injured. He is a very hard-working player. User right at the start, he | :58:34. | :58:42. | |
will get us a lot of fouls. Like a modern-day cord injury, taking the | :58:42. | :58:49. | |
hit, getting lots of free kicks -- like a modern-day Gordon Durie. And | :58:49. | :58:57. | |
it gets a sub in the opposition half, which is good away from home. | :58:57. | :59:02. | |
Lots of intelligence about his performance. I'm not surprised that | :59:02. | :59:06. | |
bad, I remember previous to his injuries, the Rangers, watching him | :59:06. | :59:11. | |
playing through the central area, and he has got pace as well. I think | :59:11. | :59:15. | |
he has got pace as well. I think he's probably relieved, it has not | :59:15. | :59:17. | |
gone that well for him at Everton, through no fault of against it. | :59:17. | :59:21. | |
Sometimes, international football, international football can you get | :59:21. | :59:22. | |
Sometimes, international football, international football can you away | :59:22. | :59:25. | |
from the stresses of your club and you just enjoy it. He feels like he | :59:26. | :59:29. | |
is released and from the first moment on, he has been holding up | :59:29. | :59:34. | |
the ball pretty well. He is not the tallest but he's good in the air and | :59:34. | :59:38. | |
he gets those free kicks. He is not diving, he's just taking their hits. | :59:38. | :59:43. | |
So seeing Anya and Naismith individually, but collectively, they | :59:43. | :59:44. | |
have made some impact. Yes, they seem to have some | :59:44. | :59:56. | |
understanding there. Naismith has been hold-up play, bringing others | :59:56. | :00:00. | |
into play and it allows you to get up and support when you're striker | :00:00. | :00:03. | |
is doing that. He might have got that on target, he couldn't quite | :00:03. | :00:08. | |
get over the top of it. It is good build-up play, getting it into | :00:08. | :00:12. | |
Naismith, back into midfield and getting it wide, getting into the | :00:12. | :00:16. | |
box the crosses. Which is what you want. Just that simple things are | :00:16. | :00:20. | |
getting the ball down and playing it back, allowing the play to go on. | :00:20. | :00:25. | |
You're desperate to get on the ball, but you have to make sure when it | :00:25. | :00:28. | |
goes up to the centre forward, it sticks. They didn't get a great deal | :00:28. | :00:33. | |
out of that, but if it comes up to Naismith, he will hold it. His | :00:33. | :00:36. | |
touches have been good and intelligent and he just lays it. | :00:36. | :00:40. | |
There are plenty of guys who try to turn around and dribble and take | :00:40. | :00:44. | |
three men on, and you don't get much out of that, but he is doing the | :00:44. | :00:47. | |
intelligent thing, adapting his game to that position well. We have been | :00:47. | :00:52. | |
looking around him, we know someone has got to take Kenny Miller's | :00:53. | :00:57. | |
position. 45 minutes, I am not saying it is sorted, but he is | :00:57. | :01:01. | |
putting a claim in. Gordon Strachan knows exactly how he wants his | :01:01. | :01:05. | |
Scotland team to play and part of that involves David Marshall rolling | :01:05. | :01:08. | |
it out, getting it on the deck and passing the ball up the pitch. | :01:08. | :01:14. | |
There have been a few opportunities to get the ball out into the | :01:14. | :01:20. | |
midfield and starting from there. We haven't got the strongest team out | :01:20. | :01:24. | |
there, we do lack a bit of height, but this is the way to go about it. | :01:24. | :01:28. | |
Switching the play, that is how we are going to unlock this defence, | :01:28. | :01:33. | |
especially than that left-hand side. There have been instances down the | :01:33. | :01:37. | |
right but especially down the left we have looked dangerous. That was | :01:37. | :01:40. | |
another good ball in and every time we put a bit of action together, it | :01:40. | :01:45. | |
ends up with Anya, whatever the piece of action is, it ends up on | :01:45. | :01:50. | |
the left-hand side. The first three or four times without the ball back, | :01:50. | :01:54. | |
David Marshall rolled the out. No doubt, the Macedonians have pushed | :01:54. | :01:58. | |
up a wee bit and made us kick it, and we don't want to kick it. But | :01:58. | :02:03. | |
the odd thing is, we have been getting the knock-downs, Naismith | :02:03. | :02:05. | |
has been clever, so the whole plan seems to be coming together pretty | :02:05. | :02:09. | |
well. I am really delighted, really nice to be able to show that pass | :02:09. | :02:13. | |
and move stuff, because that is what we haven't been doing for a long | :02:13. | :02:16. | |
time. But each game that we have done here, we have been able to show | :02:16. | :02:21. | |
good passages of play, even against the Belgians. What we have not | :02:22. | :02:30. | |
mentioned or maybe even noticed is the quality of the page. It is a | :02:30. | :02:33. | |
dodgy playing surface, but that says a lot for the quality of the | :02:33. | :02:35. | |
Scottish football. They look very confident on the ball. They are | :02:35. | :02:38. | |
having it in tight areas, and even if we are having to go back to get | :02:38. | :02:41. | |
the ball, they have circulated well and have been probing down both | :02:41. | :02:44. | |
wings. It has been a complete performance first off, all we are | :02:44. | :02:49. | |
missing is that goal. If we can play like its second half, we give | :02:49. | :02:52. | |
ourselves a great chance. And this could so easily have been the goal | :02:52. | :03:00. | |
from Scott Brown. When, he loves doing this, a chance | :03:00. | :03:05. | |
to break through, timing is fantastic - of what a great ball, by | :03:05. | :03:13. | |
the way, by Naismith - maybe he is considering he is not going to be | :03:13. | :03:16. | |
able to clip it over or it took a slight bobble, but he has it on | :03:16. | :03:20. | |
target, he ran to get there, but knowing Scott Brown he will be | :03:21. | :03:23. | |
gutted. He nearly scored the other night and the ball went a little | :03:23. | :03:29. | |
bit. As we have been saying, Scotland is | :03:29. | :03:33. | |
threatening down both sides. We have seen a fair bit of name Ella Nash | :03:33. | :03:38. | |
back to Anya in our analysis and this is Alan Hutton on the | :03:38. | :03:42. | |
right-hand side. He has not been quite as forward as | :03:42. | :03:47. | |
Anya, but the full-back is tucking in and allowing that space down that | :03:47. | :03:52. | |
side. A free kick in a dangerous area, and here he is up play, | :03:52. | :03:56. | |
getting in behind, and that is a really good ball. That was what we | :03:56. | :04:03. | |
were talking about Belgium the other night, getting across that front | :04:03. | :04:07. | |
post. He didn't manage to get across the front post, but we talked about | :04:07. | :04:11. | |
the Belgians getting to the byline time and time again and we weren't | :04:11. | :04:13. | |
doing that. But we are tonight. Maybe there is | :04:13. | :04:17. | |
something about teams playing away from home. Also maybe it is to do | :04:17. | :04:21. | |
with the fact that we are playing really well and getting back to the | :04:21. | :04:24. | |
fact that Anya has been so positive, I think he has dragged | :04:24. | :04:34. | |
them back. They may have been a timely warning | :04:34. | :04:37. | |
for Scotland just ahead of our time, it could have easily been a sucker | :04:37. | :04:39. | |
punch call, Scotland having. Had dominated. | :04:39. | :04:42. | |
Yes, we were lucky to get back, slashing at flat with his left foot, | :04:42. | :04:46. | |
it has gone wide. If we could have gotten someone to it in midfield | :04:46. | :04:50. | |
just to stop that, because we were assured for numbers on the back and | :04:50. | :04:54. | |
it was always looking dangerous on the counter. There has been another | :04:54. | :04:59. | |
goal in Cardiff, a second goal for Serbia against Wales, 2-0. | :04:59. | :05:06. | |
That match kicked off 15 minutes after the game in Skopje. Wales are | :05:06. | :05:13. | |
two down and let's hope Scotland can press on in the second half and get | :05:13. | :05:17. | |
the goal the play deserves so far, because that will be disappointing, | :05:17. | :05:21. | |
not to be on the scoresheet at half-time. Again, you don't want to | :05:21. | :05:25. | |
speak too soon, but if you keep that up you will get chances. And you | :05:25. | :05:29. | |
expect you will get a goal from that. | :05:29. | :05:33. | |
But also, they will not be that bad again. They have already made one | :05:33. | :05:38. | |
change, they may made -- make another, | :05:38. | :06:46. | |
I am looking through the whole team and asking who is not having a good | :06:46. | :06:49. | |
night. I am looking through the whole team | :06:49. | :06:53. | |
and asking who is not Everyone is having a good night. As usual, | :06:53. | :06:57. | |
Martin, when he doesn't kick a good night. As usual, Martin, when he | :06:57. | :07:00. | |
doesn't kick a ball, team, everyone is doing well. It almost goes | :07:00. | :07:08. | |
without saying that they would look comfortable in the central area. | :07:08. | :07:11. | |
Maybe we could as a wee bit more from Barry Bannon, but all of the | :07:11. | :07:17. | |
play has come down the left. Sometimes, you have to accept, it is | :07:17. | :07:20. | |
not a right-hand game tonight, we just need to cover the area and the | :07:20. | :07:29. | |
only other factor is we need that goal. And if we could get it at the | :07:29. | :07:33. | |
start of the second half, that would be brilliant, it would drag them out | :07:33. | :07:40. | |
even further. Pandev is having a quiet game, that is another area | :07:40. | :07:44. | |
Scotland have succeeded, the main man for the Macedonians has been | :07:44. | :07:49. | |
quiet. That is the area, in front of the back four, Brown and Mulgrew are | :07:49. | :07:57. | |
denying him space and that will be important in the second half, when | :07:57. | :08:00. | |
the game might be stretched, that we control that area. It might only | :08:00. | :08:03. | |
take him a second to change the course of this match, so we have to | :08:03. | :08:08. | |
keep on top. It has been a great first top Scotland and all that has | :08:08. | :08:12. | |
been missing in Macedonia is a goal. This was the best chance of | :08:12. | :08:17. | |
the first 45 minutes. Skipper Scott Brown bursting from the midfield, on | :08:17. | :08:20. | |
the end of Steven Naismith's excellent pass. A great chance to | :08:20. | :08:27. | |
score and saved by the goalkeeper. Gold in Skopje, halfway through. A | :08:27. | :08:33. | |
change of goalkeeper, Matt Gilks for David Marshall. The Tartan Army will | :08:33. | :08:38. | |
be coming to terms with that change shortly but they will hope that the | :08:38. | :08:41. | |
same again in terms of a Scottish performance. A goal or two would be | :08:41. | :08:45. | |
nice. Back to Billy Dodds and Liam McLeod. | :08:45. | :08:50. | |
it is the first time that Matt Gilks has been involved in a competitive | :08:50. | :09:08. | |
match in Scotland. He is given the second half because of a hip injury | :09:08. | :09:13. | |
sustained by David Marshall. Macedonia made a change towards the | :09:13. | :09:19. | |
end of the first half as well, Tasevski coming on. It will be them | :09:19. | :09:27. | |
that gets is underway. Can Scotland force the issue again, as they did | :09:27. | :09:37. | |
throughout the opening 45 minutes? The French referee getting is | :09:37. | :09:45. | |
underway. They have started the match without the goalkeeper! I have | :09:45. | :09:49. | |
to say, I have never seen that before. You are a lot more | :09:49. | :09:53. | |
experienced at this game than I am, Billy Dodds, have you two apart from | :09:53. | :09:58. | |
in Estonia, where nobody turned up. I have seen a lot in the game but | :09:58. | :10:03. | |
never seen that. That is astonishing. That is a pity, we | :10:03. | :10:06. | |
could have had a quick goal in the second half. He checked everyone | :10:07. | :10:11. | |
else, the referee, Fredy Fautrel. He is seeing the funny side of it, so | :10:11. | :10:16. | |
fair play to him, I hope the UEFA delegate wasn't back for his | :10:16. | :10:33. | |
half-time pie. This is player-3-macro for | :10:33. | :10:34. | |
Macedonia. Scotland need to win back-to-back | :10:34. | :11:01. | |
competitive away matches. The last time they did that was in 2007 when | :11:01. | :11:06. | |
they beat the Faroe Islands in June, then France in Paris. Remember that? | :11:06. | :11:15. | |
Exactly six years ago since McFadden did all that. Brown, Maloney and | :11:15. | :11:25. | |
Hutton are all playing today, and were in that squad. Allan Macgregor | :11:25. | :11:27. | |
is injured tonight. Couldn't quite prevent it going at | :11:27. | :11:42. | |
for the goalkick. It is a no-brainer, just give the ball to | :11:42. | :11:46. | |
him. After his performance in the first half, he was exceptional. | :11:46. | :11:53. | |
What a pass from Barry Bannan, that was 5060 yards from right to left. | :11:53. | :11:59. | |
You have to do that, he could do it right away with that diagonal. | :11:59. | :12:06. | |
Matt Gilks has three clean sheets for his team in the league so far, | :12:06. | :12:09. | |
unbeaten so far. Scotland supporters are just to the | :12:09. | :12:37. | |
right of the goal as you watch the match on your screens. The Scotland | :12:37. | :12:42. | |
fans are skipped -- stood behind Macedonian goal. 1000 of them. The | :12:42. | :12:51. | |
long ball is not an option for Scotland tonight. | :12:51. | :12:54. | |
Perhaps that is a good thing, Billy, in that they have to keep it on the | :12:54. | :13:03. | |
deck to hit the players in the final third. They have a nice little | :13:03. | :13:09. | |
triangle there of Anya, Maloney and Naismith. | :13:09. | :13:14. | |
I think they have handled the pitch really well, because it is bubbling | :13:14. | :13:18. | |
sometimes. We are forced to get it down, make no mistake, this -- | :13:18. | :13:23. | |
something of this sort of pitch can put you off your passing game, but | :13:23. | :13:26. | |
it certainly hasn't put the Scottish lads off tonight. | :13:26. | :13:32. | |
No matter how bad the pic is here tonight, it was nowhere near as poor | :13:32. | :13:37. | |
as the one when we lost to Serbia. -- no matter how bad the pitch is. | :13:37. | :13:54. | |
They will not want to give Goran Pandev any encouragement. It is the | :13:54. | :14:01. | |
first time we have seen him knock a ball in behind the Scottish | :14:01. | :14:07. | |
rearguard. It almost came to fruition with Trajkovski. As, he's | :14:07. | :14:13. | |
not in the back, Trajkovski on that side, there was a moment if he had | :14:13. | :14:17. | |
cleared him there would have been all sorts of trouble, but a good | :14:17. | :14:20. | |
header away. Good positioning from the big centre | :14:20. | :14:21. | |
half from Scotland. Anya goes around Giorgevski. | :14:21. | :14:42. | |
Greenhough. I am sure his manager enjoyed the square ball across his | :14:42. | :14:46. | |
own -- I am not sure his manager enjoyed the square ball across his | :14:46. | :14:48. | |
own 18 yard there. The home fans did not like that. | :14:48. | :15:39. | |
There is one thing the offensive players have done really well | :15:39. | :15:43. | |
tonight, as well. We sought Anya early in the game, Maloney getting | :15:44. | :15:49. | |
back a few months ago, and we also see Naismith and Bannan. They have | :15:49. | :15:52. | |
not just been attacking and doing well, they have been getting back | :15:52. | :15:54. | |
down the park, doing the shift. Gilks got game time against | :15:54. | :16:23. | |
Australia in Luxembourg in friendly matches last year. That was under | :16:23. | :16:29. | |
Craig Levein at Easter Road against the Aussies. | :16:29. | :17:12. | |
Already it is a lot better from the Macedonians in this second half. | :17:12. | :17:24. | |
Yes, we held our line pretty well, in three and that post area getting | :17:24. | :17:37. | |
cleared of the danger. The defence is looking good, but for a couple of | :17:37. | :17:40. | |
the goals that were lost against England at Wembley last month. | :17:40. | :17:45. | |
A couple of headers from Danny Welbeck and Lambert. | :17:45. | :17:49. | |
Trajkovski was not on his toes there. Luckily for us, it was a good | :17:50. | :18:15. | |
ball through. Gilks is taking his time over this. | :18:15. | :18:26. | |
He is being hurried along by the natives. | :18:26. | :19:07. | |
We haven't seen that much Shaun Maloney in the game tonight. He is | :19:07. | :19:11. | |
We haven't seen that much Shaun getting a bit more involved. | :19:11. | :19:18. | |
I don't think Scott Brown really wanted the ball back from Naismith | :19:18. | :19:24. | |
then. It was a case of turn around and start again, on that occasion | :19:24. | :19:30. | |
Naismith forced it. He looks unhappy there, Gordon Strachan. It is his | :19:30. | :19:34. | |
seventh game as Scotland manager, two wins and four defeats. | :19:34. | :19:49. | |
Another change coming up for Macedonia. Janevski rolling the dice | :19:49. | :19:55. | |
game, but not yet. -- again. There is the change, it is Ivanovski | :19:55. | :20:25. | |
who is going to come on for Macedonia. He is a striker. I'm not | :20:25. | :20:35. | |
sure who will come off for him. That is up and coming. | :20:35. | :21:03. | |
The ball looked like it was going out for a throw in, but it took a | :21:03. | :21:09. | |
vicious bobble and went out for a goal kick. The man coming off is | :21:09. | :21:17. | |
Trajkovski, one of the wide players. Replaced by Ivanovski, who | :21:17. | :21:23. | |
places football in Romania. He has scored once for the national team | :21:23. | :21:27. | |
before. Just 23, he is considered very, very promising. | :21:27. | :21:35. | |
Macedonia are saying that if he could have more luck than those who | :21:35. | :21:44. | |
have gone before -- are seeing if. Looks as if it is a straight swap, | :21:44. | :21:52. | |
Trajkovski. Even skee has gone out to this right-hand side. -- | :21:52. | :21:55. | |
Ivanovski. That is disappointing. Really good | :21:55. | :22:20. | |
from Naismith. Once he feeds it said, you just think, just get at | :22:20. | :22:24. | |
him. You can see he is looking for that far post again. He just | :22:24. | :22:30. | |
executes it all wrong, leaning back. He brought a good save out of the | :22:30. | :22:36. | |
goalkeeper in the first half, Anya. A bit further away that time. | :22:36. | :22:40. | |
I think Pandev took a touch too many. For me, he should have | :22:40. | :23:26. | |
released Yarra -- Jara . He didn't catch that one Swede, | :23:26. | :23:52. | |
that visual. Not the quite same tempo from Scotland, is that then to | :23:52. | :23:56. | |
Macedonia? I think the manager will have had a pop at them at half-time, | :23:56. | :24:00. | |
they have come out and had much more of the ball. | :24:00. | :24:06. | |
Ikechi Anya puts Scotland in front! On his first start for his country. | :24:06. | :24:14. | |
The Tartan Army didn't even know who he was a couple of weeks ago and | :24:14. | :24:18. | |
they know all about him now, they have a new hero, Ikechi Anya! | :24:18. | :24:25. | |
Macedonia zero, Scotland one. It comes from the worst period of the | :24:25. | :24:30. | |
game but it is a special goal. It is fed out to him and you are thinking, | :24:30. | :24:35. | |
he had that shot a few minutes ago, but it was a sweet strike. And boy, | :24:35. | :24:41. | |
does it fall into that far corner. He has been the top man so far. We | :24:41. | :24:47. | |
have deserve it, you have to say. Although we haven't started the | :24:47. | :24:49. | |
second half as well, he has been a special player tonight. Look at | :24:49. | :24:56. | |
that, only thinking one thing. There is it. Brilliant, brilliant finish. | :24:56. | :25:03. | |
Ikechi Anya announces his arrival properly on the international stage, | :25:03. | :25:06. | |
having had a cameo against Belgium on Friday night. Even from the start | :25:06. | :25:13. | |
today, really good first-half performance. Solidifying his inner | :25:13. | :25:22. | |
reputation -- his international reputation, which is strengthening | :25:22. | :25:25. | |
all the time. Scotland lead in Skopje. The goal coming bang on the | :25:25. | :25:31. | |
hour mark in the Macedonian capital. The hosts will try and react but it | :25:31. | :25:42. | |
is the Scotland fans in good voice now, and little wonder. | :25:42. | :25:49. | |
Typical Scott Brown, tigerish in midfield, doesn't give it up. | :25:49. | :25:57. | |
Eventually, he was outnumbered. Another terrific run from the Celtic | :25:57. | :25:58. | |
player. It was important, Billy, that | :25:58. | :26:10. | |
Scotland got that goal tonight. Especially after the first half | :26:10. | :26:14. | |
performance, but we were talking about it, on cue, that they were | :26:15. | :26:19. | |
having their best spell in the game. It is a ball flicked over the top, | :26:19. | :26:23. | |
off the shoulder of the defender, he has given him a hard time all | :26:23. | :26:27. | |
night, Georgievski. It was a hard chance, at the angle, he had to time | :26:27. | :26:32. | |
it right and strike its weekly and he did all of that. -- strike it | :26:32. | :26:36. | |
sweetly. Pandev ominous again, but the sting | :26:36. | :26:39. | |
was taken out of the cross. He is the one class act in the | :26:39. | :26:57. | |
Macedonia side, Pandev. He has been in the squad now for ten or 11 | :26:57. | :27:00. | |
years. Out of the entire Macedonia squad, | :27:00. | :27:11. | |
he is the one that plays at the very, very highest level. | :27:11. | :27:19. | |
This is better from them, though, and it is Ristovski, left back, who | :27:20. | :27:25. | |
has won the corner. That Anya goal was just Scotland's | :27:25. | :27:40. | |
fifth of this qualification campaign that started over a year ago. It is | :27:40. | :27:46. | |
Ivan Trickovski who takes the corner kick. Flicked away by Hutton, who | :27:46. | :27:54. | |
conceded it in the first place. It just might open them up a little | :27:54. | :27:58. | |
more now, which I think will suit us. They look a counterattack team | :27:58. | :28:00. | |
set up with it, with Pandev. Well, that will do, Scotland just | :28:00. | :28:47. | |
protecting their lead. The team that concedes normally do | :28:47. | :28:57. | |
come straight back at you. Tasevski ball, ice Tasevski's ball, | :28:57. | :29:08. | |
good switch. Howls of derision, from the | :29:08. | :29:43. | |
Macedonian faithful. That was a positive ball forward by | :29:43. | :30:07. | |
Trickovski originally, knocking it into the D. Well, they are happy, | :30:07. | :30:14. | |
Billy Dodds. No wonder. They have given them something, not just with | :30:14. | :30:18. | |
the goal, but the performance tonight, we just needed a goal, | :30:18. | :30:22. | |
talking about it at half-time, then suddenly we produced the goal, as | :30:22. | :30:26. | |
well, so we have plenty to sing about tonight. | :30:26. | :30:32. | |
That is what I meant when I was talking about it was so important | :30:32. | :30:35. | |
Scotland got a goal on the back of such a good performance in the first | :30:35. | :30:39. | |
half. They had chances to score in the opening period, Scott Brown and | :30:39. | :30:41. | |
one on one being the pick of them. The Naismith header, Anya, who later | :30:41. | :30:53. | |
got a goal, drawing a save from the keeper. | :30:53. | :31:00. | |
Good interchange, Naismith continued his run, but Sikov managed to break | :31:00. | :31:06. | |
up the attack. Charlie Mulgrew is in trouble here, it is yellow for | :31:06. | :31:10. | |
Charlie Mulgrew. That is the first card of the evening. A little bit | :31:10. | :31:16. | |
overzealous. Yes, I don't think Mulgrew can have | :31:16. | :31:23. | |
any complaints. There have not been too many bad fouls in the match, but | :31:23. | :31:26. | |
you would expect to pick up a bidding -- bricking all day long for | :31:26. | :31:34. | |
that. -- you would expect to pick up a booking. Please in Belgium, | :31:34. | :31:42. | |
Trickovski, he scored against Wales last week. | :31:42. | :31:45. | |
He was also in the Champions League team that did so well a couple of | :31:45. | :31:51. | |
weeks ago, scoring for Jack Kardon -esque a couple of weeks ago. -- | :31:51. | :32:04. | |
pitch. With Pandev he looks like the one who can create. -- Shaktar | :32:04. | :32:06. | |
Donetsk. This looks like a Scotland team that | :32:06. | :32:58. | |
can hit on the counter if it breaks down for Macedonia in the final | :32:58. | :33:02. | |
third. Their mackerel is peace, skill, we have shown that already | :33:02. | :33:05. | |
tonight. -- there is pace, skill. That is well dealt with. Yes, | :33:05. | :33:44. | |
Mulgrew again, he follows Pandev wherever he goes on the pitch. The | :33:44. | :33:50. | |
-- he has been excellent, in and Brown. | :33:50. | :33:52. | |
Yes, they were good against Belgium, as well. | :33:52. | :33:58. | |
It is a system that Gordon Strachan has brought in, with two sitting | :33:58. | :34:05. | |
midfielders in Brown and Mulgrew, the spoilers. | :34:05. | :34:16. | |
It may be touched his hand their mackerel and bounced up. -- it may | :34:16. | :34:23. | |
be touched his hand their mackerel. Just having the wide men is | :34:23. | :34:45. | |
stretching matters only, creating holes. -- stretching and Macedonia. | :34:45. | :34:52. | |
Into the final quarter here in Skopje. | :34:52. | :35:00. | |
Tasevski has managed to thread it through, he just makes the save and | :35:01. | :35:09. | |
granted on the second attempt. Trickovski even sneaks in, Scotland | :35:09. | :35:14. | |
cut open really for the first time in the game. It is a good ball, | :35:14. | :35:19. | |
Trickovski takes a wonderful touch, that enables him to get a shot away | :35:19. | :35:25. | |
and Gilks does ever so well, because Pandev has a tap in if it bounces | :35:25. | :35:31. | |
any further away from him. Wales losing 2-0 as we heard in | :35:31. | :35:39. | |
Cardiff, that would put Scotland above them and off the foot of the | :35:39. | :35:41. | |
table in group A. Add maybe another card, indeed it | :35:41. | :35:56. | |
is, for Stjepanovic. Yes, very unlike Mulgrew. The same | :35:56. | :36:02. | |
sort of tackle, through the back, no doubt it is a yellow. | :36:02. | :36:10. | |
We are into the final quarter of the game, Billy, how does God and | :36:10. | :36:20. | |
Strachan play it? -- how does Gordon Strachan two I think they have been | :36:20. | :36:23. | |
excellent tonight, he looks content, rightly so. | :36:23. | :36:30. | |
We talk about the back for holding the line to nullify Pandev's space, | :36:30. | :36:38. | |
they will allow a player 20 or 25 yards space to play in, nullify it | :36:38. | :36:43. | |
and make it ten yards. Steven Whittaker has been booked for what | :36:44. | :36:50. | |
the referee sees as time wasting. The midfield have been excellent as | :36:50. | :36:55. | |
well, and we know the middle front for her been excellent, as well. | :36:55. | :37:00. | |
Awkward bounce from Maloney, he was down, no free kick, Scotland wanted | :37:00. | :37:17. | |
one. Scotland are keeping this alive. | :37:17. | :37:23. | |
A good challenge by Giorgevski, who is in trouble. | :37:23. | :37:27. | |
Here they come on the counter with Pandev. | :37:27. | :37:34. | |
Ivanovski! A good save by Gilks, brilliant goalkeeping. He had to be | :37:34. | :37:39. | |
strong. What a hit from Ivanovski. Pandev | :37:40. | :37:45. | |
does shift it that time. We still have five back there but that pass | :37:45. | :37:48. | |
allows that strike. It was travelling, a good reaction saved by | :37:48. | :37:58. | |
Gilks. At the expense of the Macedonian corner kick. We move into | :37:58. | :38:03. | |
the final 17 minutes. Everyone in White was back to defend that. | :38:03. | :38:10. | |
That is a poor ball from Trickovski. He got that all wrong. He has been | :38:10. | :38:17. | |
the main danger in the second half, Ivan Trickovski, as his coach | :38:17. | :38:21. | |
watches. Yes, then that left-hand side, he made a good run a few | :38:21. | :38:26. | |
minutes ago, took a good touch, allowed a shot, Gilks gathered on | :38:26. | :38:27. | |
the second attempt. The referee had a look at that as | :38:27. | :38:49. | |
the shot comes in and Gilks has to make the save again. I think Pandev | :38:49. | :38:55. | |
thought he should have had a penalty kick there. Once we lose the ball, | :38:55. | :39:03. | |
Brown tries to recover, bundles into the back of him, just on the line, | :39:03. | :39:08. | |
get away with it, and the curling shot comes in, Gilks should be | :39:08. | :39:15. | |
saving it, but still a decent save. He is a big striker, Jahovic, trying | :39:15. | :39:21. | |
to bend it in the far corner. Like Anya in the first half, a little too | :39:21. | :39:28. | |
central. The tide is just beginning to turn a little bit. Since the goal | :39:28. | :39:33. | |
Macedonia have moved it by gear. James McArthur is getting ready to | :39:33. | :39:35. | |
come on, the Wigan midfielder. Barry Bannan, now of Crystal Palace, | :39:35. | :39:49. | |
he moved there on deadline day. That is for Anya, he is offside. He is | :39:49. | :39:53. | |
going to get booked for that, lifting it over the bar. We do see | :39:53. | :39:59. | |
it, and again it is something that the referees are told to penalise. I | :39:59. | :40:07. | |
think he was right to do it, make sure you finish off the move, | :40:07. | :40:10. | |
because sometimes you get a whistle from the crowd. He is not offside | :40:10. | :40:15. | |
comedy is at least one yard on there, poor decision. He is onside, | :40:15. | :40:21. | |
but the card for that kind of thing is unbelievable, really. | :40:21. | :40:29. | |
Split second, isn't it? To decide whether you have heard the whistle | :40:29. | :40:36. | |
or not. Yes, as Macedonia come forward, Gilks has an eye on that | :40:36. | :40:38. | |
one. Macedonia are not happy, that was a | :40:38. | :40:47. | |
bad challenge in the penalty area. That is a good step by Stjepanovic, | :40:47. | :40:52. | |
he has managed to move it out to Giorgevski, but still Macedonia have | :40:52. | :40:58. | |
a man down. That hits the side netting from Trickovski. That is a | :40:58. | :41:05. | |
good pick out from Giorgevski. It is the first time he has been up the | :41:05. | :41:09. | |
pitch, he has been pinned back by Anya all night. He makes sure he | :41:09. | :41:14. | |
strikes it, he has to make sure he gets it on target. Well, he gets the | :41:14. | :41:20. | |
first bit right. Just it's that sayyid netting. They have a bit of a | :41:20. | :41:26. | |
sweat on now, Scotland, all of a sudden. Cedomir Janevski, he is the | :41:26. | :41:33. | |
manager of the Macedonian national team. James McArthur will replace | :41:33. | :41:36. | |
Barry Bannan in a moment. That was about a foot past. A chance | :41:36. | :41:55. | |
to seal it. Maloney does ever so well. A good pick out again from | :41:55. | :42:01. | |
Anya, once he is released. Bannan calling for it, his last action in | :42:01. | :42:06. | |
the game. Like Anya's strike, you are waiting for it to nestle in that | :42:06. | :42:10. | |
bottom corner but just misses the right-hand post. There is James | :42:10. | :42:16. | |
McAvoy, about to win his first -- 13th cap, Barry Bannan the player | :42:16. | :42:21. | |
coming off. He got his 13th cap tonight, too. It is a slight change | :42:21. | :42:28. | |
to the forward triangle we were talking about earlier on. Maloney | :42:28. | :42:35. | |
will move to the right to that, McArthur coming on. It is a little | :42:35. | :42:43. | |
reshuffle. I think McArthur looks as if he is going to go over there and | :42:43. | :42:49. | |
play a straight replacement for Bannan, try to see out the game | :42:49. | :42:52. | |
because they have looked dangerous in the last few minutes, not a bad | :42:52. | :42:54. | |
substitute from Gordon Strachan. That is a really good ball for | :42:54. | :43:24. | |
Ivanovski. Another opportunity for the hosts. I think it tells you | :43:24. | :43:30. | |
everything when Giorgevski in the last couple of moments has got up | :43:30. | :43:38. | |
the pitch twice. But Ivanovski takes a lovely touch, that looked | :43:38. | :43:42. | |
dangerous, but he gets that one all wrong. A lovely first touch sets it | :43:42. | :43:48. | |
all up. We saw last year that Macedonia have good performances in | :43:48. | :43:53. | |
them. And they have had good results in the past, the not too distant | :43:53. | :44:00. | |
past, either. 2-2 here against Holland in the 2006 World Cup | :44:00. | :44:05. | |
qualifiers, 0-0 in that campaign with the Dutch, too, and in the Euro | :44:05. | :44:10. | |
2008 qualifiers they drew with England at Old Trafford. Here comes | :44:10. | :44:15. | |
another change for Scotland, and it is Lee Wallace of Rangers who will | :44:15. | :44:18. | |
replace Steven Whittaker, formerly of Rangers. Again, I don't know | :44:18. | :44:25. | |
whether it is just because Whittaker on the yellow card, getting forward | :44:25. | :44:29. | |
on both flanks, they are looking dangerous. Giorgevski, Ivanovski | :44:29. | :44:37. | |
looking dangerous, so maybe just protect themselves. Gordon Strachan | :44:37. | :44:40. | |
doesn't want to lose a player this late the game. Goal has made it 3-0 | :44:40. | :44:47. | |
to Serbia against Wales. They have looked more likely, | :44:47. | :45:13. | |
Macedonia, in the final quarter of this game. | :45:13. | :45:20. | |
Giorgevski again, just shaping a ball in. You have to be thinking the | :45:20. | :45:26. | |
front post as a striker, as a forward thinking player he is | :45:26. | :45:28. | |
clearly a yard off. Lee Wallace, this is his seventh | :45:28. | :45:39. | |
cap. He was in the Scotland under 19 team that went all the way to the | :45:39. | :45:42. | |
final of the European Championships in 2006. Steven Fletcher was | :45:42. | :45:48. | |
involved in that, as well. What a pick me up this would be. | :45:48. | :46:38. | |
Just as important as the match in Zagreb, because international | :46:38. | :46:41. | |
football, normally when you come away from home in international | :46:41. | :46:45. | |
football, a draw is a decent result, even against some of the | :46:45. | :46:49. | |
teams that some of the fans don't consider to be the top nations. | :46:49. | :46:57. | |
Adis Jahovic is being replaced by Jovan Kostovski. | :46:57. | :47:13. | |
They probably had the best of him when he was so fish and tried to | :47:13. | :47:18. | |
score at the near post when there was two other players. Not his | :47:18. | :47:24. | |
finest night, Jahovic. Jovan Kostovski plays his football | :47:24. | :47:27. | |
in Belgium, like a couple of his team-mates, for Leuven. | :47:27. | :47:47. | |
The centre half trying to push Macedonia on. | :47:48. | :48:13. | |
What a goal, what a ball from Pandev that cut Scotland open. And it is | :48:13. | :48:26. | |
the man who has just come on who has scored. It is a first international | :48:26. | :48:30. | |
goal for Christophe skee, but it was all Goran Pandev. He has been so | :48:30. | :48:39. | |
quiet in the match but you cannot stop him in that situation, just a | :48:39. | :48:42. | |
genius at work. Christophe it is a right to left, and he just | :48:42. | :48:57. | |
rolls it past Matt Gilks, Kostovski. Brilliant from Pandev. | :48:57. | :49:07. | |
What a ball from the Napoli player. Kostovski had the pleasure of | :49:07. | :49:13. | |
finishing it off. Scotland must try and find another goal in the last | :49:13. | :49:15. | |
few minutes here in Macedonia. Wales are losing to Serbia 3-0, but | :49:15. | :49:36. | |
they have the benefit of the head-to-heads. Wales have two games | :49:36. | :49:43. | |
to go after this, Scotland just the one. | :49:43. | :49:48. | |
They will come looking for another one, Macedonia. They will want to | :49:48. | :49:54. | |
win this game in front of their own fans. | :49:54. | :50:33. | |
A bit of a slap, that goal. Yes, they have been pressing but our | :50:33. | :50:43. | |
performance has been good. We scored when we were having our worst period | :50:43. | :50:47. | |
of the game and it didn't look like we could get a breakthrough, and we | :50:47. | :50:52. | |
scored. But we have sat back. They have got the equaliser, but we don't | :50:52. | :50:56. | |
deserve to lose it. But they are threatening. | :50:56. | :51:24. | |
The Macedonia fans think Scotland are time wasting for a draw here. | :51:24. | :51:41. | |
They haven't managed to get the ball to Anya as much in the first half. | :51:41. | :51:48. | |
Of course, he got his goal in the second half, but he hasn't been as | :51:48. | :51:54. | |
involved. I don't think any of the front four have been. But that is | :51:54. | :51:57. | |
down to them, you have got to complement them as well. Had the | :51:57. | :52:00. | |
chance to kill it off with Maloney. A superb run by James McArthur. He | :52:00. | :52:14. | |
has got a free kick, he was chopped to the ground. It is a pity he | :52:14. | :52:17. | |
couldn't keep his balance. He was trying to stay up, because he has | :52:18. | :52:28. | |
got Naismith that the -- he can poke it too. But he can't keep himself | :52:28. | :52:32. | |
up. The challenge has gone but it was a great chance. Grant Hanley was | :52:32. | :52:38. | |
up there as well. What an opportunity if he could have stayed | :52:38. | :52:40. | |
on his feet. Shaun Maloney has a wonderful | :52:40. | :52:47. | |
opportunity here. Charlie Mulgrew is there as well. | :52:47. | :52:58. | |
It is Shaun Maloney, and it is in! Wonderful from Shaun Maloney! An | :52:58. | :53:07. | |
expert free kick from the free kick master! And Scotland are back in | :53:07. | :53:13. | |
front and looking good, surely, in the final two minutes, for the three | :53:13. | :53:17. | |
points. It looked as though it had slipped away from them. They | :53:17. | :53:22. | |
deserved it after the run from MacArthur. He looked as though he | :53:22. | :53:26. | |
was a certainty to score. Shaun Maloney has so much to do, he just | :53:26. | :53:31. | |
puts his laces through it. He strikes through the valve, it is | :53:31. | :53:35. | |
dipping and swerving but you have to get it in the right area. He puts it | :53:35. | :53:40. | |
into that top corner, he does it for Wigan, and tonight he has done it in | :53:40. | :53:44. | |
Scotland. It looks like it is the winner. We have scored two | :53:44. | :53:48. | |
magnificent goals here tonight. There it was, the technique from | :53:48. | :53:52. | |
Maloney, as beautiful as always, when he finds the net. The man who | :53:52. | :53:57. | |
teed up Ben Watson's FA Cup winner for Wigan back in May has put | :53:57. | :54:01. | |
Scotland back in the driving seat. But there is still more to do. That | :54:01. | :54:10. | |
was Pandev. Pandev certainly involved in that, but the man who | :54:10. | :54:13. | |
scored the goal for them, Kostovski got the final touch. | :54:13. | :54:19. | |
Matt Gilks in no man's land. If he gets it on target, he scores his | :54:19. | :54:28. | |
second. Russell Martin did enough, he was the meat in the sandwich. So | :54:28. | :54:32. | |
three minutes of stoppage time being added on at the end here. | :54:32. | :54:46. | |
It was a cynical foul but led to the free kick, which Maloney duly | :54:46. | :54:55. | |
dispatched. It is Maloney's second international goal. He has scored a | :54:55. | :55:03. | |
few already for Wigan this season, including recently against | :55:03. | :55:05. | |
Nottingham Forest, just before the international break. | :55:05. | :55:15. | |
He has had to wait a long time. I think I mentioned the Faroe Islands | :55:15. | :55:24. | |
game before Paris in 2007. That was his first international goal. | :55:24. | :55:38. | |
Cast of skee has looked dangerous, got the goal -- Kostovski has looked | :55:38. | :55:51. | |
dangerous. But the goal, you just felt that Shaun Maloney was going to | :55:51. | :55:55. | |
do it. Talking about the goal against the Faroe Islands, well, it | :55:55. | :55:59. | |
is a special one tonight. What a goal, it looks as though it will win | :55:59. | :56:03. | |
this match. Wales are trailing Serbia by 3-0 in | :56:03. | :56:23. | |
Cardiff. Scotland are about to come off the bottom of Group A, perhaps. | :56:23. | :56:32. | |
You just know Macedonia are going to get another opportunity, don't you? | :56:32. | :56:37. | |
Let's hope not. I think overall we have deserved our victory tonight, | :56:37. | :56:40. | |
we have played well. Especially that first half. We got two great goals, | :56:40. | :56:46. | |
a lot of good individual performances. | :56:46. | :57:07. | |
Anya has drawn the free kick, and that will do the Gordon Strachan's | :57:07. | :57:10. | |
side. Just four wins in 16 competitive | :57:10. | :57:23. | |
matches, going into this one. Two of those against the 148th ranked | :57:23. | :57:25. | |
Lichtenstein. Naismith was offside from the free | :57:25. | :57:39. | |
kick. He and Gjorgioski, a bit afters. -- a bit of afters. | :57:39. | :58:16. | |
Not far away from really, truly sealing it. But we have played the | :58:16. | :58:23. | |
three minutes from stoppage -- of stoppage time. | :58:23. | :58:27. | |
It is a good win, a very good win for Gordon Strachan and his men. | :58:27. | :58:35. | |
They opened the scoring after eight horrific first half, into this | :58:35. | :58:43. | |
second period, from Ikechi Anya -- after eight horrific first half. | :58:43. | :58:50. | |
That was cancelled out by Kostovski after a wonderful ball boy Goran | :58:50. | :58:55. | |
Pandev. But Gordon Strachan's men have a victory at the James McArthur | :58:55. | :59:00. | |
was upended, Shaun Maloney with a wonderful free kick, bent into the | :59:00. | :59:04. | |
top corner, the goalkeeper's top right. That means it finishes here | :59:04. | :59:08. | |
with the Scots coming off the bottom of World Cup qualifying Group A. | :59:08. | :59:13. | |
That was great to watch, but only part of the equation that gets | :59:13. | :59:18. | |
Scotland off the bottom of Group A. The other involves Wales not | :59:18. | :59:21. | |
winning. Well, they are currently losing in Cardiff by three goals to | :59:21. | :59:28. | |
nil against Serbia. What a performance that was and what a | :59:28. | :59:32. | |
night for Ikechi Anya. His first Scotland start, Pat Nevin, his first | :59:32. | :59:37. | |
goal. He was brilliant, start to finish. It is a great goal. He has | :59:37. | :59:43. | |
smacked it on the half volley. Constantly trying to get behind the | :59:43. | :59:47. | |
defence, an absolute star. He will get a nine out of ten in the papers | :59:47. | :59:52. | |
tomorrow and he will deserve it. Fantastic for just starting his | :59:52. | :59:56. | |
international career. Scotland deserved to win but for one awful | :59:56. | :00:02. | |
moment on 83 minutes, it looks like we would have to settle for a | :00:02. | :00:06. | |
point. Yes, we can't keep a clean sheet at the moment. It is a great | :00:06. | :00:10. | |
ball, I mean that is the quality that Pandev has. Shaun Maloney has | :00:10. | :00:16. | |
the win this, and he absolutely knows he has blown it there. You | :00:16. | :00:20. | |
need to get your foot in. But what passed, the vision to chip that of a | :00:20. | :00:27. | |
defence -- what a pass. It is a difficult one coming over his | :00:27. | :00:31. | |
shoulder and he manages to product over the line. You could see Shaun | :00:31. | :00:36. | |
Maloney looking in horror with his head in his hands. A few minutes | :00:36. | :00:41. | |
later, his arms were in the air. A sublime free kick. Every single | :00:41. | :00:44. | |
player knows that when you have made that kind of the state, head in | :00:44. | :00:48. | |
hands and he was desperate to get this. We know he is well capable of | :00:48. | :00:53. | |
this, he has done it enough domestically. He has not scored | :00:53. | :00:57. | |
enough goals internationally, but he and the rest of the team were good. | :00:57. | :01:05. | |
He has even taken it back a little bit to that distance so he can get | :01:05. | :01:09. | |
it up and down, and that is exactly what he can do. Only his second | :01:09. | :01:12. | |
international goal and it is surprising that he doesn't have | :01:12. | :01:17. | |
more, when he has that quality. How good was the Scotland performance | :01:17. | :01:22. | |
tonight? I think it is the best under Gordon Strachan yet. He has | :01:22. | :01:26. | |
had to put it together with a lot of players missing, going all the way | :01:26. | :01:29. | |
back to Fletcher, exception. You are beginning to see what it means | :01:29. | :01:33. | |
there, the style of the play that he wants, and the belief that there is | :01:33. | :01:37. | |
in the group of players. There is definite belief that they can play | :01:37. | :01:41. | |
and the belief they had in the young lad, he has just come into that | :01:41. | :01:45. | |
team. Gordon said, give him the ball until he is sick of it and they have | :01:45. | :01:48. | |
done it and it is great that you get that belief in the team. The manager | :01:48. | :01:53. | |
says give the kid the ball, so keep on giving it him. And it worked a | :01:53. | :01:57. | |
treat. That is real progress. Zagreb, Wembley, Friday night, maybe | :01:57. | :02:03. | |
not so good, but playing a top quality team, and then 2-1 in | :02:03. | :02:07. | |
Macedonia. That was all was going to the be the big one, tonight, to get | :02:07. | :02:13. | |
the three points. -- always going to be. The Belgian game would have been | :02:13. | :02:16. | |
a bonus but tonight was the yardstick to tell how well we have | :02:16. | :02:20. | |
come on and it was a great performance. I think right through | :02:20. | :02:23. | |
the team, there were good performances. We kept the ball | :02:23. | :02:26. | |
again, we touched on that before, and created some really good | :02:26. | :02:30. | |
openings, even right at the end with Lee Wallace charging up the line. | :02:30. | :02:35. | |
And we have got attack minded players. That is what we have been | :02:35. | :02:39. | |
crying out for. By the way, Naismith, he was superb upfront. | :02:39. | :02:47. | |
Before this we kept complaining, who is going to score the goals? And | :02:47. | :02:51. | |
what was it, for goals we had scored before now? Not only did we scored | :02:51. | :02:56. | |
two goals, we made plenty of chances, as well. There are two | :02:56. | :03:01. | |
aspects about the commitment of tonight, because yes, we have a | :03:01. | :03:04. | |
chance of getting off the bottom spot, though there are results out | :03:04. | :03:07. | |
of our control that may affect that, but there is also a year's | :03:07. | :03:11. | |
time and the kick-off of another qualification campaign. It begins to | :03:11. | :03:15. | |
look as if we are getting somewhere. I think the next one at home to | :03:15. | :03:23. | |
Croatia is another big step. We have shown that we can now do it away | :03:23. | :03:28. | |
from home, Croatia, now Macedonia, and now can be put game plan in | :03:28. | :03:33. | |
place for the con games? The setup seems to work really well for us | :03:33. | :03:37. | |
away, can we experiment and do what we need to do to find something that | :03:37. | :03:42. | |
works at home, as well? And finding some good players to add to what | :03:42. | :03:47. | |
Gordon Strachan had? He said he was going to have to do that, to look | :03:47. | :03:50. | |
around him and see who can do the job for him. He has brought in | :03:50. | :03:53. | |
players that you are not really that we are off and it has been | :03:53. | :03:58. | |
fantastic. Obviously Anya is the one we will think of tonight, but there | :03:58. | :04:03. | |
have been others, as well. Yes, you have that as well, but we have not | :04:03. | :04:09. | |
even had time to... Gilks came on tonight and did absolutely | :04:09. | :04:12. | |
brilliantly when we call on him, that was always a worry. We are | :04:12. | :04:15. | |
going to a third goalkeeper and he did well, as well. It is only | :04:15. | :04:24. | |
Macedonia, by the way, but now we can see the green shoots of | :04:24. | :04:26. | |
recovery. Let's hope we can keep it going until the end of this campaign | :04:26. | :04:30. | |
and the next. Thank you to Pat Nevin and the next. Thank you to Pat Nevin | :04:30. | :04:34. | |
Craig, Scotland are off the bottom spot of group A, and for a team that | :04:34. | :04:38. | |
have been struggling for results, that was pretty memorable in | :04:38. | :04:40. | |
Macedonia. Good night. | :04:40. | :04:42. |