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Not for Scotland the World Cup -- World Cup which kicks off in a | :00:20. | :00:23. | |
couple of weeks time. It is about trying to qualify for a euro 2016 | :00:24. | :00:29. | |
and that starts with the small matter of Germany in September. | :00:30. | :00:33. | |
Scotland's only match practise between now and then is tonight here | :00:34. | :00:40. | |
at Craven cottage, Nigeria are Brazil-bound, that is their anthem | :00:41. | :00:44. | |
under way. They are tonight's opposition for Scotland. | :00:45. | :00:49. | |
These two with me Kris Boyd and Pat Nevin, you will hear from former | :00:50. | :00:56. | |
Scotland striker Kevin Gallagher alongside match commentator Liam | :00:57. | :00:57. | |
McLeod. Thank you. Good evening the latest | :00:58. | :01:08. | |
test for Scotland and the final test for Gordon Strachan's Scotland ahead | :01:09. | :01:11. | |
of their date in Dortmund in September. | :01:12. | :01:17. | |
That is a very experimental Nigerian starting line up. Only elder son and | :01:18. | :01:21. | |
Yobo have been regular starters for them. Elder son playing at right | :01:22. | :01:27. | |
back. Normally a left back. Joel Obi is highly thought of. He spent last | :01:28. | :01:34. | |
season at Parma. Shola Ameobi has been released by Newcastle. There is | :01:35. | :01:44. | |
a place for Gabriel. A if millia looking Scotland | :01:45. | :01:51. | |
formation, and a first start for Dundee United's Andrew Robertson. | :01:52. | :01:56. | |
Shoaib Malik returns. Steven Naismith has scored twice here this | :01:57. | :02:01. | |
season for Everton, in a League Cup defeat and a Premier League win. His | :02:02. | :02:04. | |
three Scots goals have come at Hampden Park. | :02:05. | :02:11. | |
You will recognise plenty of names on that Nigerian bench. Celtic's | :02:12. | :02:25. | |
Ambrose among them. -odd and Moses. -- Odemwingie. Our referee is Lee | :02:26. | :02:32. | |
Probert who took part of the FA Cup Final between Arsenal and Hull less | :02:33. | :02:34. | |
than a fortnight ago. Scotland eyeing up a third win on | :02:35. | :02:42. | |
the bounce and a fourth in a row away from home, and just to | :02:43. | :02:46. | |
underline the improvement under Gordon Strachan, they haven't | :02:47. | :02:52. | |
managed that since 1950-51. France, Wales England and Belgium were | :02:53. | :02:56. | |
beaten then, so far on this run they have defeated Macedonia, Norway and | :02:57. | :03:00. | |
Poland. One goal conceded away from home in that run as well. | :03:01. | :03:07. | |
Kevin Gallagher scored a goal last time Scotland qualified for a major | :03:08. | :03:16. | |
finals that famous day. What do you Mick of the current team? It is a | :03:17. | :03:22. | |
team in progress again and Gordon is getting it right. He is adding one | :03:23. | :03:27. | |
or two things. We have seen is latter end of the qualification | :03:28. | :03:31. | |
group and he didn't quite get the goals from it to get us there. He is | :03:32. | :03:35. | |
unbeaten in the last five and let us go forward from it now. | :03:36. | :03:44. | |
The Nigerians have a World Cup finals to look forward to. You saw | :03:45. | :03:51. | |
their coach, he will take a squad to the Stats tomorrow. Seven of the 30 | :03:52. | :03:56. | |
men who are here will not make the cut for Brazil. | :03:57. | :04:00. | |
It is Nigerians who get us under way, just the second time the | :04:01. | :04:05. | |
nations have met. The only other one was in 2002. Nigeria with a 2-1 | :04:06. | :04:11. | |
victory that night. They came from behind in what was Bertie vote's | :04:12. | :04:15. | |
second match in charge of Scotland. He went to take charge of Nigeria | :04:16. | :04:20. | |
for a shortlived an more unsuccessful spell. | :04:21. | :04:27. | |
There is a few of the Nigerians starting line up tonight, all ply | :04:28. | :04:34. | |
their trade back h home. Most of them are out with the | :04:35. | :04:39. | |
African nation. It is an early touch for Elderson. | :04:40. | :04:55. | |
This is the skipper Yobo. This days at Fenerbache in Turkey. | :04:56. | :05:09. | |
A touch for Ejide in goal. He is normally the second chance keeper. | :05:10. | :05:19. | |
He is getting a chance to impress. It gives the main man a chance to | :05:20. | :05:23. | |
sit on the bench and relax. There is a big campaign, there is a couple of | :05:24. | :05:28. | |
games they have got in United States. It is a great opportunity | :05:29. | :05:32. | |
for the coach to see some of these players against a Scottish side that | :05:33. | :05:37. | |
are looking hungry tonight. Wearing their team strip for the | :05:38. | :05:41. | |
first time, the old Roseberry colours made a come back. | :05:42. | :05:49. | |
It a kit that has divided opinion. Gordon Strachan hasn't divided | :05:50. | :05:52. | |
opinion since taking the job, just over a year ago. | :05:53. | :05:58. | |
The results in recent times have been superb. | :05:59. | :06:03. | |
Scott Brown, the skipper tonight, scored the winning goal in the last | :06:04. | :06:07. | |
two internationals. Firstly in Mulder back in November and then in | :06:08. | :06:12. | |
Warsaw against Scotland's soon to be group rivals for a place at the next | :06:13. | :06:17. | |
European Championship finals. It is Nigeria with a lot of early | :06:18. | :06:22. | |
possession here, though. This is Elderson. | :06:23. | :06:31. | |
Nice ball into Obi. That was a bright start for Nigeria. I am very | :06:32. | :06:36. | |
impressed. They are capable of playing the 4-3-3 or some say it is | :06:37. | :06:50. | |
a 4-3-2-1: The corner will be taken. Met by Brown. | :06:51. | :06:58. | |
Gordon Strachan talking about how physical Nigeria are. The shot from | :06:59. | :07:03. | |
Obi. You are saying the physical presence of them. When they arrived | :07:04. | :07:09. | |
today, it was almost like a basketball side with come some of | :07:10. | :07:14. | |
them, compared to the Scottish lads. Back off Naismith. | :07:15. | :07:22. | |
Scotland fans packing out the end just behind McGregor's goal. He is | :07:23. | :07:26. | |
back in the side tonight. David Marshall has been the number one in | :07:27. | :07:31. | |
recent matches. James Morrison gets it clear. | :07:32. | :07:36. | |
Won but Mulgrew. Alan Hutton has had a largely | :07:37. | :07:52. | |
frustrating season. He had a decent loan spell at Bolton Wanderers. Good | :07:53. | :08:05. | |
touch there. Oh, it is off the post. So willing it in for the lad for it | :08:06. | :08:10. | |
to go in. That touch sets him up. Well, the referee has given a goal | :08:11. | :08:17. | |
kick here, it is incredible. Anya's shot was helping it on its way. | :08:18. | :08:22. | |
Without the touch it is not threatening the keeper. The keeper | :08:23. | :08:25. | |
is looking at it, he is bending down. | :08:26. | :08:30. | |
Beats him hands down. No corner. | :08:31. | :08:40. | |
Far from home for Nigeria, Craven Cottage but it is their third recent | :08:41. | :08:48. | |
international here, a couple of draws one against the Republic of | :08:49. | :08:52. | |
Ireland, another soon to be qualifying opponent of the Scots, | :08:53. | :08:58. | |
then Italy, 2-2 draw. I saw that. They played well that night against | :08:59. | :09:02. | |
the Italian, they came over, a crowd similar to tonight, a bit of noise | :09:03. | :09:07. | |
but they went out and played a bit of football and threatened the | :09:08. | :09:11. | |
Italians. And scored add couple of good goals. | :09:12. | :09:16. | |
Shola Ameobi a former team-mate of mine getting on the score sheet as | :09:17. | :09:21. | |
well. He was at a long time at Newcastle. Ameobi, he has parted | :09:22. | :09:25. | |
company with the Magpies this summer. Strange territory for him. | :09:26. | :09:31. | |
This is Gabriel, played a few times for Kilmarnock, didn't make much of | :09:32. | :09:34. | |
an impression. Gave away a penalty in the Scottish Cup tie. | :09:35. | :09:44. | |
Good to see Shoaib Malik back. He has real hip problem, he was away in | :09:45. | :09:51. | |
the States for consultations. Operations. -- Shaun Maloney. | :09:52. | :09:57. | |
Missed a massive chunk of Wigan's season. He like a few others had to | :09:58. | :10:06. | |
put up with play-off agony. Losing out in the semis. | :10:07. | :10:12. | |
Gordon Strachan was very keen to see Derby County's Chris Martin in from | :10:13. | :10:16. | |
the start today, but he only ended up having one proper session with | :10:17. | :10:20. | |
him. On his late arrival to the squad. | :10:21. | :10:34. | |
Scott Brown battering the ball. He was standing the ground the | :10:35. | :10:37. | |
Nigerian. He didn't want Brown to take the free-kick. Brown's argument | :10:38. | :10:41. | |
is he shouldn't be there in the first place That is what happens | :10:42. | :10:45. | |
when you try to stop the quick free-kicks, you try to stand in | :10:46. | :10:49. | |
front of the ball. Scott Brown has every right to try and take that | :10:50. | :10:54. | |
free-kick very quickly. You just see it. Maloney won the | :10:55. | :11:02. | |
free-kick, then this, just there. It is just a follow through. It is | :11:03. | :11:08. | |
not the ball, he kings the ball, the ball goes through his leg, | :11:09. | :11:13. | |
unfortunately Scott's leg carried on! | :11:14. | :11:17. | |
-- kicks. That is is a poor ball by Alan Hutton. Scotland could be in | :11:18. | :11:22. | |
trouble here. Good save McGregor. Put in all kind of bother by his | :11:23. | :11:27. | |
team-mate. Just acknowledge it, this is a Cardinal sin, you never play a | :11:28. | :11:34. | |
scare pass. Strikers read it, and anything can happen. He strikes it | :11:35. | :11:37. | |
well. It would take a lot better than that to beat the quality of | :11:38. | :11:45. | |
Allan McGregor. Hutton earning his #409 cap for the | :11:46. | :11:50. | |
country -- 40th cap for the country tonight. That wasn't the way to | :11:51. | :11:55. | |
celebrate it. His former team-mate and friend there, got him out of | :11:56. | :12:01. | |
jail with the save. You want to get those rusty passes | :12:02. | :12:05. | |
out of the system and hopefully that is Allen with it out of his system. | :12:06. | :12:09. | |
Robertson, Mulgrew to Brown. Gordon Greer gets another start for | :12:10. | :12:34. | |
his country. Here comes Hutton. It is a Scotland corner. That is | :12:35. | :12:46. | |
their first of the evening. He is saying no commune care, I don't know | :12:47. | :12:51. | |
how me mam is, his defensive position, Hutton puts him in that | :12:52. | :12:56. | |
position, he has to clear his line. Maloney short to Anya. | :12:57. | :13:02. | |
A wonderful flick and a wonderful goal from Charlie Mulgrew. | :13:03. | :13:11. | |
Absolutely superb from Scotland. Wonderful flick and Mulgrew gets his | :13:12. | :13:15. | |
second for his country, and the Scots have the lead. The right place | :13:16. | :13:20. | |
at the right time Liam. Charlie Mulgrew is there, a quick free-kick, | :13:21. | :13:24. | |
the Nigerians have switched off from it. When the shot comes in the | :13:25. | :13:29. | |
Scottish players have managed to get themselves back on side. Charlie | :13:30. | :13:34. | |
Mulgrew has a diversion on to the ball. It is a great start for | :13:35. | :13:45. | |
Scotland. Morrison botched the shot but | :13:46. | :13:50. | |
Mulgrew turned it in expertily I have scored some of those, you can't | :13:51. | :13:56. | |
buy a goal. Charlie doesn't score that many goal, he can score the | :13:57. | :14:01. | |
occasional top class goal but those ones are better. | :14:02. | :14:07. | |
That is Morrison. A great start for the Scots. Anya has Nigerian blood. | :14:08. | :14:19. | |
But a Scottish international. It is nice he chose, when he plays at the | :14:20. | :14:24. | |
left-wing, he gets up and down that line, he is capable of playing as a | :14:25. | :14:29. | |
winger, a full-back or as we say in the back three, a wing back as well. | :14:30. | :14:40. | |
Charlie Mulgrew only other international goal came in Gordon | :14:41. | :14:45. | |
Strachan ice first match in charge of the team, against Estonia. | :14:46. | :14:50. | |
That is one for the scrap book for sure. | :14:51. | :14:57. | |
Doesn't matter when or how you score them, when you put on the Scotland | :14:58. | :15:04. | |
Jersey it I means a lot to you. I am sure Charlie will cherish that goal | :15:05. | :15:05. | |
as well. Mulgrew tossed it forward for Anya. | :15:06. | :15:19. | |
Naismith in the middle. Morrison has got there too. Another corner. | :15:20. | :15:22. | |
That was a nice bit of pressure. Scotland coming down the left hand | :15:23. | :15:29. | |
side now. They might be finding a bit of | :15:30. | :15:36. | |
weakness down the right-hand side on Odunlami. It gives Scotland the | :15:37. | :15:41. | |
chance to, won set pieces. They went short last time. | :15:42. | :15:51. | |
Headed away by Ameobi. It is still with Scotland, with | :15:52. | :15:54. | |
Maloney to Anya. Too deep that time but again | :15:55. | :16:00. | |
Scotland keeping the pressure on, Elderson forced to concede the | :16:01. | :16:05. | |
corner. That is good play, lovely play down the left-hand side. Have a | :16:06. | :16:19. | |
look at the opposition, and you see the Nigerian players climbing all | :16:20. | :16:24. | |
over you. The inswinger from Sean Maloney. The flight of the ball | :16:25. | :16:37. | |
misjudged by Bubba can they -- Babatunde. Just seeing glimpses at | :16:38. | :16:50. | |
the moment of the counterattacking pace that the Nigerians possess. In | :16:51. | :16:56. | |
excess of 10,000 Scotland fans were expected in London for this game. | :16:57. | :17:03. | |
Happy with what they are seeing. Odunlami over the throw. A chance | :17:04. | :17:14. | |
for Nigeria to exert some pressure on the Scottish defence. At set | :17:15. | :17:24. | |
plays, not renowned for letting in goals from set plays. It is a test | :17:25. | :17:30. | |
for Scotland. It is a chance for Nigeria to try something different. | :17:31. | :17:38. | |
The corner kick was poor. They will happily defend those all night. | :17:39. | :18:02. | |
Argentina, Iran, and Bosnia-Herzegovina make up the group | :18:03. | :18:07. | |
for Nigeria in the World Cup. The biggest threat is Argentina. Back | :18:08. | :18:24. | |
out to Babatunde. There are lots of them in this Nigerian starting 11 | :18:25. | :18:31. | |
who will be in the thoughts of their coach for getting on Matt plane to | :18:32. | :18:36. | |
Brazil but a few in that squad after living a charmed life. They have two | :18:37. | :18:42. | |
friendly matches before going on to Brazil and the World Cup. Their main | :18:43. | :18:51. | |
striker is not starting tonight. You have got the Victor Moses, he will | :18:52. | :18:57. | |
probably start wide, you have got three KeyCorp -- key forward | :18:58. | :19:03. | |
players, so it gets a chance to have a look at the likes of Shola Ameobi. | :19:04. | :19:11. | |
They have got opportunities for these guys to show the prospects | :19:12. | :19:14. | |
that they have got. They still have another two friendlies to go. The | :19:15. | :19:19. | |
slip from that is wonderful skill with | :19:20. | :19:44. | |
the outside of the book. To control it over the goalkeeper 's head when | :19:45. | :19:48. | |
you do not know whether goalkeeper is, it is a fantastic that of skill! | :19:49. | :20:06. | |
-- bit of skill. Michael Uchebo had four in green ahead of him. A 12 | :20:07. | :20:20. | |
month turnaround in which he is now a full international, Andrew | :20:21. | :20:28. | |
Robertson. A fantastic young player. An absolute dream to play in this. I | :20:29. | :20:34. | |
was watching him in the cup final. St Johnstone did a very clever job | :20:35. | :20:38. | |
on the way that the Dundee United fullbacks trying to get forward. | :20:39. | :20:43. | |
They kept them back. He just likes to get round that left-hand side, | :20:44. | :20:49. | |
and help in the attacking process. He got six goals for Dundee United | :20:50. | :20:54. | |
last season which, for full-back, is fantastic. When you bring up that | :20:55. | :21:07. | |
match at Borough Briggs, it was a very important match that Queens | :21:08. | :21:09. | |
Park one that night. Ikechi Anya made such a wonderful | :21:10. | :21:26. | |
entrance to the international team last year. Great movement down the | :21:27. | :21:37. | |
left-hand side. Getting forward and attacking more. They are doing it. | :21:38. | :21:41. | |
It gives a chance for Steven Naismith or James Morrison getting | :21:42. | :21:45. | |
beyond them. To make runs into the box. As soon as they get in there, | :21:46. | :21:58. | |
the wide players will put it in. Robertson steadies himself. Scotland | :21:59. | :22:19. | |
are one up thanks to the second international goal for Charlie | :22:20. | :22:27. | |
Mulgrew. Gordon Greer has to backpedal. Now, Grant Hanley, his | :22:28. | :22:41. | |
13th cap tonight. Gordon Greer in beside him, this is his fourth cap. | :22:42. | :22:49. | |
That was lovely from Morrison, and Scott Brown could not find the | :22:50. | :22:53. | |
weight of the past four Naismith. You could see what he was trying, | :22:54. | :22:58. | |
trying to wrap his foot around it, and roll it in front of Steven | :22:59. | :23:03. | |
Naismith. A promising move to see the midfielders getting beyond the | :23:04. | :23:07. | |
strikers. So often we sit back and wait for the counterattack. That is | :23:08. | :23:13. | |
care this from Nigeria. Again, the final pass was not there. That time, | :23:14. | :23:18. | |
it was Ikechi Anya looking for Steven Naismith. It was careless | :23:19. | :23:24. | |
passing from Nigeria. At this level, when you get those opportunities, | :23:25. | :23:25. | |
you have to make the most of it. And the only other meeting between | :23:26. | :23:47. | |
these teams, Christian Dailly, scored for Scotland, and Aghahowa | :23:48. | :23:56. | |
scored the winner for Nigeria at Pittodrie. It came on the back of a | :23:57. | :24:14. | |
5-0 roasting against the French. Minor that they came under pressure | :24:15. | :24:19. | |
against Norway and against Poland but looking at the Scotland team, | :24:20. | :24:25. | |
they play with a freedom that they are allowed to express themselves, | :24:26. | :24:32. | |
and perhaps before, they were not. I think sometimes we want to say that | :24:33. | :24:37. | |
we are not good enough, we will have to sit back, because we are not as | :24:38. | :24:40. | |
good as the opposition. Sometimes it is not like that. If you let them | :24:41. | :24:45. | |
express themselves, teams do get surprised. People will be surprised | :24:46. | :24:50. | |
that Scotland were actually having a go defensively and not sitting back | :24:51. | :24:53. | |
and waiting for counterattacking football. Sunday, September seven is | :24:54. | :25:09. | |
the date when Scotland will take on Germany in the West Allen study on | :25:10. | :25:25. | |
in Dortmund. -- Westfalonstadion. The expectation levels are | :25:26. | :25:30. | |
increasing with every victory. It is an increase in pressure that Gordon | :25:31. | :25:43. | |
Strachan will be happy with. Elderson has won a free kick. He was | :25:44. | :25:52. | |
looking for it. Charlie Mulgrew gets caught, here. He just put his hand | :25:53. | :25:58. | |
over his shoulder. It is enough for elders and to go to ground. It is a | :25:59. | :26:01. | |
dangerous position. -- for Elderson. Scotland have gone almost 390 | :26:02. | :26:19. | |
minutes without conceding a goal, now. They have got a free kick to | :26:20. | :26:27. | |
deal with. Shola Ameobi is the one lining it up and taking charge of | :26:28. | :26:35. | |
it. Reuben Gabriel is the other. It looks like Shola Ameobi, two goals | :26:36. | :26:41. | |
for his country. He could not make it three there. You could tell by | :26:42. | :26:47. | |
his body shape there. I have not seen him taking many free kicks for | :26:48. | :26:51. | |
Newcastle. That was well off target, his radar was not working. Almost | :26:52. | :26:58. | |
two decades at Newcastle as a player at St James's Park. Uncharted | :26:59. | :27:03. | |
territory for him now. He was there was a very young kids. He was there | :27:04. | :27:07. | |
as an 18-year-old when I was in the first team. I said to him what is | :27:08. | :27:15. | |
happening, have they freed you? He says, my contract is up, and I feel | :27:16. | :27:23. | |
that I have to have a new challenge. That was an early flag up against | :27:24. | :27:34. | |
Ikechi Anya. We have seen this a few times. Good vision from Steven | :27:35. | :27:39. | |
Naismith. Unfortunately it had to be done slightly earlier. Naismith, | :27:40. | :27:52. | |
looking for Morrison. Gabriel has it. The Scotland fans shouting for | :27:53. | :28:12. | |
handball as that was taken down. Gordon Strachan not happy with some | :28:13. | :28:18. | |
of the possession that has been given away by Scotland over the past | :28:19. | :28:22. | |
few minutes. Not keeping the ball as well as he would like. Away by | :28:23. | :28:30. | |
Gordon Greer. Shola Ameobi was lurking. That was kept in by | :28:31. | :28:46. | |
Elderson. He opens his box of tricks. There have been a few of | :28:47. | :28:54. | |
those on show tonight. The Nigerian players being ruled on by their | :28:55. | :29:05. | |
supporters who are loving this. -- roared on. Lee Probert has a look | :29:06. | :29:13. | |
over his shoulder to see the number, and unfortunately for | :29:14. | :29:17. | |
Charlie Mulgrew it is his second within a few moments. He has to be | :29:18. | :29:21. | |
more careful now, because the referee has had a good look. Away by | :29:22. | :29:34. | |
Scott Brown. Delivery has not been great from the Nigerians, thus far. | :29:35. | :29:51. | |
That is an opening for Uzoenyi. He was smothered by Andy Robertson. | :29:52. | :29:57. | |
Perhaps the Scotland supporters will keep hold of the ball, of the kind | :29:58. | :30:02. | |
that will be used in the World Cup in Brazil. When you start using | :30:03. | :30:09. | |
these for the board cup, why not tonight? It just gives you something | :30:10. | :30:16. | |
of a rub salt in the wounds for the Scots lads. It is just a reminder | :30:17. | :30:21. | |
for then that these are the competitions you want to be going | :30:22. | :30:27. | |
to. -- for them. Nigeria play increase, and then the USA, in the | :30:28. | :30:34. | |
states, and their opening World Cup game is on the 16th of June against | :30:35. | :30:40. | |
Iran. The plan of action is to qualify before the last group game | :30:41. | :30:46. | |
against Argentina. It is important in the World Cup. | :30:47. | :31:01. | |
Foul by Brown. Nigeria's best performance at World | :31:02. | :31:05. | |
Cup finals was in their first one in 1994. In America. | :31:06. | :31:14. | |
They equalled that in France in 98. Nigeria corner kick here, meantime. | :31:15. | :31:25. | |
Ameobi leaving it for Babatunde. He plays his football in the Ukraine. | :31:26. | :31:28. | |
. Away it goes. | :31:29. | :31:41. | |
Hanley. Ambitious. | :31:42. | :31:48. | |
You have to say. If ever you are going to see if the | :31:49. | :31:52. | |
ball flies it is from a long distance shot. He gets everything | :31:53. | :31:56. | |
right apart from he cuts across the ball. His body shape is down, his | :31:57. | :32:02. | |
shoulders are up. Unfortunately cut across it underneath it, it is going | :32:03. | :32:18. | |
to divert, high and wide. Obi. Uchebo, went the wrong way. | :32:19. | :32:38. | |
Maloney. A good move. A very good move. That is half a dozen now. | :32:39. | :33:00. | |
Again it son the left hand side. A nice little interchange. | :33:01. | :33:10. | |
That is another one wanting to keep the ball! | :33:11. | :33:33. | |
Almost bang on the half hour mark. You see what Scotland has done, | :33:34. | :33:45. | |
because Babatunde on one side, and Uzoenyi on the other. That is a cred | :33:46. | :33:55. | |
it to Scotland. -- credit. Headed away by Ameobi who has nine years -- | :33:56. | :34:09. | |
Yobo who had nine years at Everton. Asking too much of Morrison. | :34:10. | :34:26. | |
Yobo who is in the team tonight, the skipper, is the most capped player | :34:27. | :34:34. | |
in Nigeria's footballing history, it is his 95th appearance for the team | :34:35. | :34:43. | |
tonight. An experienced player and spent a | :34:44. | :34:46. | |
lot of last season on loan in England. | :34:47. | :34:54. | |
A long spell at Everton. Naismith and Maloney are not the | :34:55. | :35:11. | |
tallest players in the world but they have forced a corner kick. You | :35:12. | :35:15. | |
don't have to be. Down the left hand side, good running from Anya, gets | :35:16. | :35:18. | |
down there and he wants to put it into an area, he is looking up, | :35:19. | :35:23. | |
hoping to get it in there but Elderson does fantastic defending | :35:24. | :35:29. | |
but he is playing well down the left-hand side. | :35:30. | :35:37. | |
Another Maloney corner. The referee didn't like the | :35:38. | :35:49. | |
challenge. Have to question that and see that one again. Lee Probert is a | :35:50. | :35:56. | |
bit kind on the keeper. He comes out. | :35:57. | :35:59. | |
I think, is he in control of it? I don't know, I don't think so. | :36:00. | :36:05. | |
He is thrown it into his own net. -- he has thrown it into his own | :36:06. | :36:10. | |
net. Didn't see much in that. Just think it is very soft. I think | :36:11. | :36:17. | |
keepers are sometimes overprotected. That is a massive instance of a | :36:18. | :36:22. | |
goalkeeper being overprotected. It is like two centre forwards and they | :36:23. | :36:25. | |
both go for a Herd, you will have that bit of physical contact, you | :36:26. | :36:30. | |
have to have the physical contact. The goalkeeper, to me, all fingers | :36:31. | :36:33. | |
and thumbs, it has gone in the back of the net. | :36:34. | :36:42. | |
That is Obi. Elderson. Uchebo. | :36:43. | :36:55. | |
They are keeping them at bay. They are. They are keeping them at bay. | :36:56. | :37:02. | |
They are getting certain chance, set pieces but Nigeria aren't taking the | :37:03. | :37:07. | |
chance, the set pieces at the moment, Babatunde taking it, they | :37:08. | :37:12. | |
are not getting the set pieces right. Sometimes, when you are | :37:13. | :37:18. | |
playing, sometimes a second string forward line or one or two different | :37:19. | :37:21. | |
changes from your line up you wanted, you are going to slowly | :37:22. | :37:30. | |
build into it. But... Mulgrew gave that way. | :37:31. | :38:04. | |
Odunlami plays back in Nigeria for the Sun shine Stars. | :38:05. | :38:20. | |
-- Sunshine. Nigeria the African champions having won their | :38:21. | :38:26. | |
tournament, way back last Jan. Took part in the confederations cup in | :38:27. | :38:31. | |
Brazil last summer. The World Cup represents the biggest | :38:32. | :38:37. | |
prize for them. One of five African nations who will be heading there. | :38:38. | :38:53. | |
Tions Cup in Brazil last summer. The World Cup represents the biggest | :38:54. | :38:56. | |
prize for them. One of five African nations who will be heading there. | :38:57. | :38:58. | |
Wonderful effort there, McGregor read it all the way. It comes | :38:59. | :39:03. | |
straight at him. He was looking at his position, Greg | :39:04. | :39:11. | |
Gereshk he sees the cross position, it was a great effort from Shola | :39:12. | :39:19. | |
Ameobi. He doesn't get enough goals. He only got three in so many | :39:20. | :39:23. | |
appearances in the last few for Newcastle. He knows it is | :39:24. | :39:48. | |
disappointing. The other four teams from Nigeria | :39:49. | :39:54. | |
are Algeria, the Ivory Coast and Cameroon. | :39:55. | :39:58. | |
World Cup regulars these day, Cameroon. | :39:59. | :40:03. | |
-- days. Nigeria are going to their fifth World Cup finals and they will | :40:04. | :40:08. | |
look to make a bigger impression than on their last two tournaments. | :40:09. | :40:13. | |
Missed out on Germany in 2006, but Tay were in Japan and Korea in 2002, | :40:14. | :40:22. | |
and in South Africa four years ago. You would imagine that first match | :40:23. | :40:25. | |
against Iran it will be a very different starting 11 to the one | :40:26. | :40:30. | |
tonight Certainly, no doubt about it. They will name four or five | :40:31. | :40:33. | |
players that would be in the starting line up for that occasion | :40:34. | :40:36. | |
barring any injuries. Shaun Maloney's free-kick for the | :40:37. | :40:54. | |
Scots. Knocked away by Ameobi. Think Babatunde gets himself, he | :40:55. | :41:00. | |
looks and thinks will I go in for the tackle? He looks like he wants | :41:01. | :41:06. | |
to pull out. That is why he gets his injury. He is all right to go in and | :41:07. | :41:08. | |
have a tackle. He is in acres of space, Babatunde, | :41:09. | :41:16. | |
away over in the right hand side. He is on the ball now. | :41:17. | :41:34. | |
Robertson wasn't sure where up Uchebo was He got himself in a good | :41:35. | :41:41. | |
position. You can't take chance, you always say clear your line, you can | :41:42. | :41:45. | |
reshape at the set piece. Babatunde's corn earn kick. | :41:46. | :41:53. | |
-- corner kick. He couldn't get any purchase on the | :41:54. | :41:57. | |
ball. He is a giant, he is 6'5. He is a | :41:58. | :42:06. | |
huge man at the back post. He spent his whole career back in | :42:07. | :42:13. | |
Nigeria. Scored most of the scored did go | :42:14. | :42:19. | |
back to Nigeria -- squad did go back to Nigeria before going back. Off to | :42:20. | :42:21. | |
Houston tomorrow. Exciting times for the Nigerians and | :42:22. | :42:37. | |
the Scottish players will hope for something similar on temperature | :42:38. | :42:39. | |
road to France. -- on the road to France. This is | :42:40. | :42:45. | |
Naismith. Maloney. Clipped in for Naismith. | :42:46. | :42:53. | |
He is unlucky. He just had to connect with it. Maloney has done | :42:54. | :42:56. | |
fantastic. Gets into position for the cross. | :42:57. | :43:02. | |
That is fantastic from Robertson. Unfortunate, picked up by Gabriel. | :43:03. | :43:07. | |
That is strong from Hanley. He hassian away on the left-hand side. | :43:08. | :43:11. | |
Naismith and Maloney trying to get into the middle here. Anya. | :43:12. | :43:19. | |
Unlucky. That is a nice spell again from Scotland. Getting forward, | :43:20. | :43:24. | |
pressing, Nigerians, asking questions. Again, it is a final | :43:25. | :43:26. | |
ball, from Anya. I like the play at the moment, it is | :43:27. | :43:34. | |
good play. Babatunde. | :43:35. | :43:47. | |
Elderson Echiejile. Simply known as Elderson. | :43:48. | :44:01. | |
Egwuekwe. Short ball to Ameobi who finds Yobe. Ameobi. No, it breaks | :44:02. | :44:16. | |
down. That is the pressure of Scotland, four players round, two | :44:17. | :44:19. | |
Nigerians. This is an opportunity. He turns his head away, he sees the | :44:20. | :44:35. | |
goalkeeper out of the side of his eye. | :44:36. | :44:43. | |
Yes Naismith as Gabriel picks up and finds Uchebo. He will fancy this. | :44:44. | :44:50. | |
That is the level with the help of the deflection. Uchebo levels | :44:51. | :45:00. | |
matters at Craven Cottage. If you don't shoot you don't have a | :45:01. | :45:07. | |
chance of scoring. Uchebo gets in, he does so well. He can't get it, | :45:08. | :45:16. | |
when he comes out, he lets fly and again, it is one of those shots I | :45:17. | :45:20. | |
think is going to hit the corner flag, but you have to stick a leg | :45:21. | :45:25. | |
out, and unfortunately, for Allan McGregor, he is going one way and | :45:26. | :45:30. | |
the ball goes the other. Grant Hanley, the unlucky man, Uchebo, | :45:31. | :45:37. | |
with his first international goal on what is just his second cap and | :45:38. | :45:43. | |
Scotland's run of clean sheets ends after 408 minutes without conceding | :45:44. | :45:46. | |
a goal. Finally they have been breached and they have been breached | :45:47. | :45:51. | |
by Michael Uchebo. It is 1-1 in London. You are saying in breach, it | :45:52. | :45:58. | |
is by freak. Robertson looking for Maloney. Of course we go back to the | :45:59. | :46:04. | |
Hanley header, when he went up against the goalkeeper, who was | :46:05. | :46:08. | |
given the free-kick, and the ball ended up in the net. | :46:09. | :46:14. | |
There was two chances. Naismith, one go in with the header and the | :46:15. | :46:20. | |
goalkeeper throwing it in his own net. | :46:21. | :46:22. | |
A lovely touch from Mulgrew from Robertson. Strong play, though, in | :46:23. | :46:31. | |
the midfield by Joel Obi. That was almost like a line up in | :46:32. | :46:48. | |
the rugby, lining up to cross it. It is down to that final passing. The | :46:49. | :47:27. | |
major unions feeling better about themselves now that they are back on | :47:28. | :47:41. | |
level terms. -- the Nigerians. The big Nigerian population in London, | :47:42. | :47:49. | |
out in force tonight. It has been a dull, miserable day in the UK | :47:50. | :47:53. | |
capital. They are brightening things up. They have got the brass section | :47:54. | :47:55. | |
here as well. capital. They are brightening things | :47:56. | :47:58. | |
up. They have got the The atmosphere is fantastic. Both sets of fans. It | :47:59. | :48:05. | |
was noticeable when they were doing the national anthem. Michael Uchebo, | :48:06. | :48:14. | |
the goal-scorer. And Nigeria ending the half very strongly, the final | :48:15. | :48:22. | |
minute of it. Scotland have got to keep it down to closed doors, almost | :48:23. | :48:30. | |
touching half-time. Keep it down get into the dressing room, and Gordon | :48:31. | :48:37. | |
Strachan can reshape his side. Uzoenyi with a corner kick. A second | :48:38. | :48:43. | |
chance for Nigeria, and Allan McGregor holds on. I don't know if | :48:44. | :48:50. | |
it puts it down to the technique of the players, or it is this new, | :48:51. | :49:00. | |
World Cup ball. The new ball is always a source of controversy in | :49:01. | :49:02. | |
the run-up to World Cup finals, it seems. They said it four years ago | :49:03. | :49:11. | |
in South Africa. Morrison has given it away and it is still alive for | :49:12. | :49:17. | |
Nigeria. Shola Ameobi sums up his recent form. That was a chance. You | :49:18. | :49:23. | |
just saw him slip in the middle of the park. He knows that he is in. He | :49:24. | :49:33. | |
has time to take a little touch. Very similar to the earlier one in | :49:34. | :49:40. | |
Scotland. The ball just does not quite get the bend on it, like it | :49:41. | :49:55. | |
did for Steven Naismith. That was well taken by Grant Hanley. | :49:56. | :50:02. | |
Morrison. Scotland led this game thanks to a fine finish from Charlie | :50:03. | :50:06. | |
Mulgrew, his second goal for his country, fabulous finish, cancelled | :50:07. | :50:14. | |
out by an equaliser from Michael Uchebo, a couple of minutes before | :50:15. | :50:19. | |
half-time, deflecting horribly off Grant Hanley and into the net. At | :50:20. | :50:23. | |
Craven Cottage it is Nigeria one, Scotland one. | :50:24. | :50:34. | |
Scotland head off feeling a little bit disappointed, maybe at the bit | :50:35. | :50:39. | |
disappointed with the scoreline, but not with the performance. Let's hear | :50:40. | :50:46. | |
from Kris Boyd and Pat Nevin. Remind me which of these teams is going to | :50:47. | :50:48. | |
the World Cup. It is not their strongest team. | :50:49. | :50:58. | |
Scotland started well. For 30 minutes we were the better side with | :50:59. | :51:01. | |
more possession. We were strong, structurally. I have to say that the | :51:02. | :51:14. | |
Celtic boys have scored a lot of important goals for us and they have | :51:15. | :51:19. | |
managed to do it again for us today. They are adapting that 4-2-3-1 | :51:20. | :51:25. | |
formation as they go along. Scotland playing like a team who want to go | :51:26. | :51:31. | |
six matches unbeaten. Definitely. The final ball could maybe be a | :51:32. | :51:34. | |
little bit better but they are getting the ball forward, getting | :51:35. | :51:39. | |
opportunities. They could have done better in the final third. It is a | :51:40. | :51:43. | |
game where you want to take your chances. It was a nice touch from | :51:44. | :51:46. | |
Charlie Mulgrew for the opening goal. It was a great finish. You | :51:47. | :51:53. | |
could see that Charlie has moved the ball with his foot. It is a great | :51:54. | :52:01. | |
finish. I'm going to say that that Karen -- Gareth Bale or Neymar does | :52:02. | :52:06. | |
that you will be talking about it for ever. He knows what he's doing. | :52:07. | :52:12. | |
He gets it absolutely perfect. He might not do it every time, but that | :52:13. | :52:17. | |
is what he is trying to do. He is putting it back in that area. It is | :52:18. | :52:22. | |
a great finish. One of the big things about it, we talk about Scott | :52:23. | :52:30. | |
Brown scoring that goal, it is to think that they can come from those | :52:31. | :52:33. | |
deep areas and make a difference for us. And a short corner, it is hard | :52:34. | :52:40. | |
to take corners, because it is the same on the Astroturf. It was good | :52:41. | :52:46. | |
thinking by Scotland to do that. Should Scotland have had a second | :52:47. | :52:55. | |
goal through Grant Hanley? I must admit, we were right in line with | :52:56. | :53:01. | |
it. When the goalkeeper is that size he should be coming and commanding | :53:02. | :53:05. | |
it. I do not see much wrong with it. He thinks he has been shoved, but to | :53:06. | :53:11. | |
be honest nine times out of ten in the modern game, you're not getting | :53:12. | :53:14. | |
that. The keepers are protected well. In general terms, you're | :53:15. | :53:25. | |
probably not going to get that. But they have put a little bit of | :53:26. | :53:28. | |
pressure on him. He will think twice about coming out for it next time. | :53:29. | :53:33. | |
And part of a Grant Hanley hard luck story was this deflection on the | :53:34. | :53:37. | |
shot from Michael jerboa which gives a false scoreline to the match. -- | :53:38. | :53:45. | |
from Michael Uchebo. You would not want any players to get injured at | :53:46. | :53:48. | |
the World Cup, they are testing things out. That is unfortunate that | :53:49. | :53:54. | |
it has taken a deflection and left Allan McGregor with no chance. I | :53:55. | :53:59. | |
would not blame Grant Hanley for the deflection. That just happens now | :54:00. | :54:03. | |
and again. He should have gone out and closed him down. In actual fact, | :54:04. | :54:13. | |
he had the man, took he his time to get out and that is the reason why | :54:14. | :54:16. | |
they got the shot away and we lost the goal. Ikechi Anya has been | :54:17. | :54:20. | |
prominent for Scotland down the left-hand side and just a fraction | :54:21. | :54:28. | |
away from goal. Yes, he has done a bidding right. It has come off the | :54:29. | :54:31. | |
post. It has taken a little deflection. -- he has done | :54:32. | :54:36. | |
everything right. He was very unlucky. One of the things we have | :54:37. | :54:44. | |
noticed about Ikechi Anya is his willingness to attack the last | :54:45. | :54:46. | |
defender all the time. He will not always get the perfect ball in. The | :54:47. | :54:53. | |
amount of times that the midfielders are able to put the ball into that | :54:54. | :54:57. | |
channel because it they know that he's going to run in there. It is | :54:58. | :55:05. | |
that willingness. I am not going to stop, I am going to keep going. Two | :55:06. | :55:11. | |
players have to go to him, and he has a little bit of trickery as | :55:12. | :55:15. | |
well. Because of that, the other players can actually come in. | :55:16. | :55:19. | |
Robertson has a great chance to put the ball in the middle. He has pace | :55:20. | :55:25. | |
and a little bit of trickery. He is prepared to running behind, he is | :55:26. | :55:33. | |
stretching the game. We thought, where has he come from? And he makes | :55:34. | :55:39. | |
a big difference. He was trying to make adaptations to what is a system | :55:40. | :55:44. | |
that is the right system for us. With both fullbacks pushing on, they | :55:45. | :55:47. | |
are causing problems as well, playing higher up the page. In | :55:48. | :55:53. | |
Scottish teams in the past we were sitting in and we are taking the | :55:54. | :55:59. | |
team is now -- taking the game to teams, further up the pitch, and it | :56:00. | :56:06. | |
they showing. -- it is showing. It was always going to be tough for | :56:07. | :56:12. | |
Scotland under 21s and they are currently three down to the | :56:13. | :56:21. | |
Netherlands, with the beautifully named Quincy Promes scoring all | :56:22. | :56:26. | |
three goals. We will talk about the prospects in this second half 's | :56:27. | :56:33. | |
here in full, but let's reflect on that sensational ending to the | :56:34. | :56:38. | |
Scottis Premiership season. Hibs relegated, Hamilton promoted, and | :56:39. | :56:48. | |
here's how it went. That is cheap, very cheap. The turn, the chance and | :56:49. | :57:01. | |
the goal! A massive moment in this Premiership play-off tie. It was the | :57:02. | :57:08. | |
error from McGivern that has been exposed, big-time. Gordon, played | :57:09. | :57:20. | |
forward. Good turn by Jason Scotland. That is the opportunity | :57:21. | :57:29. | |
and they have taken it! Tony Andrew! Easter Road is stunned and | :57:30. | :57:45. | |
little wonder. Nerve shredding. The drama you have to watch, but you | :57:46. | :57:50. | |
want to look away from. How is your luck? Kevin Thomson. It has not gone | :57:51. | :57:59. | |
in, it is advantage Hamilton. Jason Scotland, who got the Hamilton | :58:00. | :58:08. | |
revival started. He makes it 4-3. They are almost there, Hamilton. The | :58:09. | :58:14. | |
man who scored the goals in the first leg that look like they had | :58:15. | :58:19. | |
put Hibs on easy street. He has to score. And he doesn't! This is | :58:20. | :58:32. | |
astonishing! Hamilton looked dead and buried when they arrived in the | :58:33. | :58:36. | |
capital this afternoon. The first leg was a blow but not a knockout | :58:37. | :58:41. | |
blow, and somehow they have found it within themselves to pull off one of | :58:42. | :58:43. | |
the great Scottish football comeback, to consign her burning | :58:44. | :58:53. | |
into relegation. -- Hibernian. We do not think that the first game was | :58:54. | :58:58. | |
2-0. A lot of people laughed at. I believe that we could go and do it. | :58:59. | :59:02. | |
And I think we showed today that we are the better side and deserved it. | :59:03. | :59:07. | |
We have got to make sure that if we do continue next year, we rebuild, | :59:08. | :59:12. | |
because this club needs it. This club needs a chance to regroup. And | :59:13. | :59:17. | |
to clear some people out and make sure we come back fighting, come | :59:18. | :59:22. | |
back stronger. Well done to Hamilton, but that is a nightmare | :59:23. | :59:27. | |
scenario for Hibs. They are in the Scottish Championship next season. | :59:28. | :59:31. | |
And that is some line-up of themes, when you think that Rangers and | :59:32. | :59:35. | |
Hearts are in there as well. -- of teams. It is going to be tough. A | :59:36. | :59:45. | |
lot of big clubs down there. That is no coincidence that there are 15 | :59:46. | :59:48. | |
players leaving Hibs on Monday morning. That decision has been made | :59:49. | :59:54. | |
over a three-month period. It has been on the slide since then. As a | :59:55. | :59:59. | |
Hibs fan it is a worrying time. It is, Pat, | :00:00. | :00:00. | |
Hibs fan it is a worrying time. isn't it? Even worse than losing the | :00:01. | :00:08. | |
cup final. That is the lowest of the low. Hibs are probably the worst | :00:09. | :00:15. | |
team in the Scottish Premier League. And in the end it is the worst team | :00:16. | :00:18. | |
that goes down. They have not got any excuses. Maybe an extreme | :00:19. | :00:24. | |
changes needed. All of those players out. It has been coming for a few | :00:25. | :00:29. | |
years. Hibs fans will tell you that the quality has not been good for a | :00:30. | :00:33. | |
few years. Before this game started I did not think that 2-0 was enough. | :00:34. | :00:38. | |
And by the way, well done Hamilton, they absolutely deserve that on the | :00:39. | :00:43. | |
day. It is going to be an incredibly hard lead to get out of. It is going | :00:44. | :00:48. | |
to be exciting. The likes of Falkirk have been fantastic in it as well. | :00:49. | :00:52. | |
But don't try telling that to Hibs fans right now, it just hurts too | :00:53. | :01:02. | |
much. Kris Boyd has been part of the Scotland squad under Gordon | :01:03. | :01:09. | |
Strachan. What has he added? He has given back belief that they can win | :01:10. | :01:13. | |
games. The fullbacks have been playing further up the pitch. We are | :01:14. | :01:17. | |
starting to threaten teams rather than sitting in and waiting to get | :01:18. | :01:21. | |
beaten. And that is showing with the team selection. We are picking | :01:22. | :01:25. | |
forward-thinking players. And we are hurting teams. It is exciting bodges | :01:26. | :01:32. | |
Scotland at the moment. It is. Remember, we have been on a roll. | :01:33. | :01:38. | |
Even in the press conference building up to this, he wants to add | :01:39. | :01:44. | |
that attacking flair, and with a bit of application. Too often, we hear | :01:45. | :01:47. | |
managers saying what they are going to do and it does not would like | :01:48. | :01:51. | |
that at all by the time the game comes. You can see at adapting and | :01:52. | :01:55. | |
changing. We try not to get too carried away, but we can see the | :01:56. | :02:03. | |
improvement, game on game. The Scott Brown and Charlie McGrew in the | :02:04. | :02:05. | |
middle, they have a great understanding. It lets the fullbacks | :02:06. | :02:11. | |
go up as well. Watch Robertson tonight. When he pushes up, Charlie | :02:12. | :02:18. | |
Mulgrew will push into his place. It is a good system. Gordon Strachan | :02:19. | :02:23. | |
can slot players and when others are missing and the momentum continues. | :02:24. | :02:29. | |
Before Gordon Strachan was in charge, if we did not have the main | :02:30. | :02:33. | |
players, we were snookered. If we were missing one or two players, we | :02:34. | :02:37. | |
knew that we were in big trouble. I do not feel like that just now. | :02:38. | :02:41. | |
There are the few players who think we can't do without them because | :02:42. | :02:46. | |
others can slot in. Maybe we are an period of time where we have more | :02:47. | :02:50. | |
depth to the squad. Gordon has looked around. He's picking lads | :02:51. | :02:56. | |
from Derby County. He is looking well and picking them up well. And | :02:57. | :03:05. | |
Darren Fletcher is still not involved. There are options. Before, | :03:06. | :03:17. | |
that was not the case. We go with a fair bit of belief, | :03:18. | :03:23. | |
don't we? Germany is is a world class team. I think we can go, there | :03:24. | :03:28. | |
is games we can take the game to the opposition, but I think the Germany | :03:29. | :03:32. | |
game, we might try and defend and hit them on the break, but as I say, | :03:33. | :03:37. | |
that might suit us because we have players going forward. Let us hear | :03:38. | :03:42. | |
from the Scotland assistant manager. Mark, do you consider yourselves | :03:43. | :03:47. | |
unfortunate going in level at the break? No. I think that it has been | :03:48. | :03:51. | |
a good game, it has been a good tempo, we have had a lot of positive | :03:52. | :03:56. | |
aspects. We feel there has been a few instances when we have not | :03:57. | :03:59. | |
turned it into a good enough chance, there has been a lot of positives. | :04:00. | :04:03. | |
Good luck in the second half. Thank you. Team is out. Let us see | :04:04. | :04:10. | |
how the second half develops. 1-1 half way through. Back to Kevin | :04:11. | :04:15. | |
Gallagher and Liam McLeod. No changes by the looks of things at | :04:16. | :04:20. | |
half-time. Gordon Strachan will be making a few of those later. | :04:21. | :04:27. | |
Scotland unbeaten in the last five, since losing to Belgium in | :04:28. | :04:28. | |
September. It looks as though Scotland are | :04:29. | :04:36. | |
going to make a change at the start of the second half. It will be Chris | :04:37. | :04:42. | |
Martin and she going to replace Steven Naismith. | :04:43. | :04:51. | |
-- he is. It's a debut for Chris Martin, Gordon Strachan had it in | :04:52. | :04:57. | |
his mind he would start him tonight if it had not arrived later than | :04:58. | :05:01. | |
anybody else. So Naismith off, Martin on. | :05:02. | :05:24. | |
The Nigerian players go into a huddle. | :05:25. | :05:27. | |
Gordon Strachan's 12th game in charge of Scotland, he has won six s | :05:28. | :05:32. | |
lost four and drawn one so far, the defeats came to Wales, Serbia, | :05:33. | :05:37. | |
England and Belgium. But it has all been positive, pretty | :05:38. | :05:42. | |
much, as the months have gone on. Can they chalk up another victory | :05:43. | :05:51. | |
tonight? The referee gets things June way for the second half. | :05:52. | :05:58. | |
-- under way. And it is with Hanley. Final are heading to their fifth | :05:59. | :06:01. | |
World Cup finals. They will have been to five of the last six when | :06:02. | :06:09. | |
they go to Brazil. Having defeated Ethiopia 4-1 on aggregate to reach | :06:10. | :06:15. | |
the finals. The best World Cup run twosecond round exits to Italy in | :06:16. | :06:21. | |
94, they were one minute from the quarter-finals, having finished | :06:22. | :06:25. | |
ahead of Argentina in their group. Then they lost 4-1 to Denmark in the | :06:26. | :06:30. | |
second round in 1998, having won their group that time as well. | :06:31. | :06:35. | |
Out in the group stage, in 02 and 2010. | :06:36. | :06:40. | |
What do you make of that? Obviously he wanted to look at Chris Martin, | :06:41. | :06:44. | |
that is first and foremost. As you say, that slight delay, it gives | :06:45. | :06:51. | |
them a chance to have a look at Steven Naismith as a lone striker. | :06:52. | :06:55. | |
Now is the chance for an out-and-out striker, a slightly different way of | :06:56. | :07:01. | |
playing, he will be more of a target man. James Morrison will have to | :07:02. | :07:05. | |
support him a bit more. The first cap for Chris Martin who scored 25 | :07:06. | :07:10. | |
goals for Derby County in their march to the play-off. | :07:11. | :07:23. | |
25, his first cap. His father is a Glaswegian, but he is from Suffolk. | :07:24. | :07:31. | |
In a different life he was in an England U 19 squad. He was looking | :07:32. | :07:36. | |
to bring Maloney into play there. Nigeria have the ball back though. | :07:37. | :07:41. | |
Obi. Yobo. Backed there by Gabriel. He | :07:42. | :07:57. | |
was still in the Nigeria squad before he was given his Kilmarnock | :07:58. | :08:07. | |
debut. After a few appearances he was out. He wasn't the only one to | :08:08. | :08:18. | |
leave Killie in January. Martin immediately involved. | :08:19. | :08:22. | |
Hutton there one of the survivors from that night in Paris. Incredible | :08:23. | :08:36. | |
to think that was almost seven years ago now, McFadden and all that. | :08:37. | :08:47. | |
I remember the goal like it was yesterday, from McFadden. A long | :08:48. | :08:51. | |
free-kick from Germaine Greerful Martin does well, strong play, | :08:52. | :08:56. | |
Morrison evades the challenge. He did well, he just managed to side | :08:57. | :09:12. | |
foot himself away from Odunlami. It is going to drop to Ameobi. McGregor | :09:13. | :09:19. | |
is there. He has to be. What a save Allan McGregor. He is | :09:20. | :09:23. | |
not expecting that, to happen in the box, and it is a natural shot from a | :09:24. | :09:30. | |
striker. I tell you what he is alert, he is sharp. Just shows all | :09:31. | :09:36. | |
young goalkeepers out there it is not just about saving with your | :09:37. | :09:41. | |
than, it is about getting your feet and body down to stop the ball going | :09:42. | :09:46. | |
in the net. It is incredible he is playing tonight, after suffering | :09:47. | :09:50. | |
kidney damage in a game back at the end of March. It looked like his | :09:51. | :09:55. | |
season was over, understandably. He came back from Hull City, he played | :09:56. | :10:00. | |
at Wembley in the FA Cup Final defeat to Arsenal. Team were 2-0 up | :10:01. | :10:19. | |
early in that game. That might have troubled the | :10:20. | :10:23. | |
Nigerian goal. Scotland are using Anya, his pace is causing all sorts | :10:24. | :10:28. | |
of problems down Odunlami's side. He doesn't know whether he is coming or | :10:29. | :10:33. | |
going, twisting or turning. This is, as you say, that is an | :10:34. | :10:36. | |
unbelievable save. You know he is son his toe, he is not on his heel, | :10:37. | :10:49. | |
he is not caught going backwards. 32 cap for him. | :10:50. | :10:53. | |
Robertson. Let that trickle out. | :10:54. | :11:09. | |
Hutton. That is from Martin. Whiches it as well. Lovely knock down for | :11:10. | :11:16. | |
Morrison. Resisted the temptation to shoot there, tried to knock it into | :11:17. | :11:21. | |
the path of Maloney. He was just unlucky at the end of it. Right | :11:22. | :11:28. | |
idea. He is looking the push it into Maloney's path. It caught his studs | :11:29. | :11:32. | |
or blades under the sole of his boot. | :11:33. | :11:37. | |
Nigeria thinking of making a change. There will be a few of those as | :11:38. | :11:42. | |
tends to be in these challenge matches. Igiebor is being readied. | :11:43. | :11:59. | |
Gabriel, poor ball. Hanley. Martin, can see already what Martin bridge | :12:00. | :12:11. | |
brings to the table. Nobody in the middle at the moment. | :12:12. | :12:16. | |
He might have do this himself. Great skill from Anya. | :12:17. | :12:25. | |
This is Hutton. Scotland playing on, Hutton trying to pick out a | :12:26. | :12:38. | |
team-mate and in it goes! And Scotland have their lead back! | :12:39. | :12:46. | |
Scotland have restored their advantage, early in the second half. | :12:47. | :12:55. | |
They are getting into position. You think that is it over. Nigeria, a | :12:56. | :13:01. | |
bit casual on the clearance, they get in position. They can hurt them | :13:02. | :13:06. | |
in behind. It is here with Hutton. He doesn't want to fire it across, | :13:07. | :13:11. | |
he takes his time and looks up. He tries to pick out a bit of movement. | :13:12. | :13:19. | |
Unfortunately, for Nigeria. It was helped on its way by Odunlami. Yes. | :13:20. | :13:28. | |
It shows the quality of the cross, if you put it into an area, you may | :13:29. | :13:35. | |
have to make the challenge, unfortunately, it ends up in the | :13:36. | :13:49. | |
Nigerian net again. Odunlami tries to Superintendent it | :13:50. | :13:53. | |
from crossing the line. He couldn't. Scotland in front again. Perfect | :13:54. | :14:00. | |
start to the second half. We say in the first half to get off to a good | :14:01. | :14:06. | |
start. You know, you have a feeling that Scotland have found one or two | :14:07. | :14:10. | |
little weaknesses in this Nigerian side. | :14:11. | :14:17. | |
Nigeria fans not happy with the touch there, from Ameobi. In the | :14:18. | :14:21. | |
middle of that the Nigerians did make a change, they brought Joel Obi | :14:22. | :14:26. | |
off and put on Igiebor of Real Betis, in Spain. They were relegated | :14:27. | :14:39. | |
from La Liga. Obi fancying his chances of getting on the plane to | :14:40. | :14:50. | |
Brazil. Just a change of personnel, fresh | :14:51. | :14:56. | |
leg, something different. Try and add a bit of spark. We will probably | :14:57. | :15:00. | |
see more substitutions coming up now. | :15:01. | :15:03. | |
We are not going to have to wait long for the next one. Peter | :15:04. | :15:09. | |
Odemwingie is going to come on. A familiar name. | :15:10. | :15:18. | |
Michael Uchebo who scored towards the end of the first half is | :15:19. | :15:23. | |
replaced by Peter Odemwingie. He hasn't been part of the national | :15:24. | :15:28. | |
team in recent times. Not since February 2012 in fact, | :15:29. | :15:35. | |
more than two years since he featured for Nigeria, now of Stoke | :15:36. | :15:41. | |
City. He has had a good season for Stoke City. He got exiled from | :15:42. | :15:46. | |
Nigeria from the national side. Now he has come back in to it. We heard | :15:47. | :15:52. | |
the huge applause from his fans. It is good timing. It is always nice to | :15:53. | :15:57. | |
come back to, especially a national set up when you go into a major | :15:58. | :16:08. | |
competition. Peter Odemwingie on for his 59th cap. I'm important few | :16:09. | :16:16. | |
minutes for Scotland to consolidate their lead. -- an important. Elders | :16:17. | :16:47. | |
and played against Celtic in the Champions League -- Elderson played | :16:48. | :16:54. | |
against Celtic in the Champions League in 2010, when he played for | :16:55. | :17:04. | |
Braga. And Peter Odemwingie played against Aberdeen in the Europa | :17:05. | :17:17. | |
League in 2000 and 74 Lokomotiv Moscow. -- 2007, four Lokomotiv | :17:18. | :17:21. | |
Moscow. An important intervention from | :17:22. | :17:39. | |
Gordon Greer. Peter Odemwingie gets it back, and that there is a good | :17:40. | :17:49. | |
save from Allan McGregor. At the last line of defence you need top | :17:50. | :17:53. | |
quality, and Allan McGregor is. We have seen them there so many times, | :17:54. | :17:58. | |
his quick reactions, gets down though, gets his hands on it. David | :17:59. | :18:08. | |
Marshall is amongst the substitutes tonight. Gabriel, to Auden winky. -- | :18:09. | :18:20. | |
to Peter Odemwingie. They must be making substitutions | :18:21. | :18:36. | |
every two minutes, because they have two players waiting to come on, | :18:37. | :18:39. | |
Victor Moses is stripped and ready to come on. Wonderful skill, | :18:40. | :18:55. | |
Alberta, by Gabriel, setting up an opportunity for Nigeria -- wonderful | :18:56. | :18:56. | |
skill out there. The big switch from Igiebor. That | :18:57. | :19:28. | |
was Allan McGregor's, all the way. Igiebor. To Peter Odemwingie. That | :19:29. | :20:19. | |
is an excellent challenge by Robertson. So strong in the tackle. | :20:20. | :20:25. | |
He had to be. He had to get it right. Right under the nose of the | :20:26. | :20:30. | |
referee's assistant, watching him closely. Gabriel. Elderson. It | :20:31. | :20:47. | |
breaks down in the final third for Nigeria once more, with the score at | :20:48. | :20:57. | |
Nigeria one, Scotland two, the second Scotland goal courtesy of an | :20:58. | :21:14. | |
own goal by Egwuekwe. Great ball from Alan Hutton, and Shaun | :21:15. | :21:22. | |
Maloney, he is offside. I wonder how close that was? Getting it down the | :21:23. | :21:29. | |
right-hand side. Alan Hutton made a great run. He is clearly offside. I | :21:30. | :21:39. | |
just wonder, if he lets that go, Chris Martin was waiting for it. He | :21:40. | :21:46. | |
is interfering with they so he has to check his run to allow Martin in, | :21:47. | :21:58. | |
with Victor Moses, one, replacing Uzoenyi. He is a Chelsea player, who | :21:59. | :22:08. | |
was on loan at Liverpool last season. Nigeria have made four | :22:09. | :22:18. | |
changes in 16 minutes of the second half. Scotland thought they had gone | :22:19. | :22:32. | |
3-1 R. -- 3-1 up. In this one, you're only talking half a yard | :22:33. | :22:38. | |
offside, for Shaun Maloney. That was a solid challenge by Alan Hutton. | :22:39. | :22:44. | |
Headed clear by Colin Greer. Joseph Yobo. | :22:45. | :22:56. | |
Picked up by Michael Baberton des. -- Babatunde. Scotland are preparing | :22:57. | :23:17. | |
to make a change. James Morrison is going to be replaced by George Boyd | :23:18. | :23:27. | |
of Hull City. Just the second cap for George Boyd. He played plenty of | :23:28. | :23:34. | |
football for Hull City as they finished 16th in the English Premier | :23:35. | :23:43. | |
League. There is his namesake, Kris Boyd, sitting beside his old | :23:44. | :23:52. | |
Kilmarnock and Rangers body, Steven Naismith. -- buddy. Shaun Maloney | :23:53. | :24:30. | |
coming off the right-hand side allowing George Boyd to come in from | :24:31. | :24:33. | |
the more natural position of a wide forward layer. -- player. | :24:34. | :24:44. | |
Two more of the regular stars for Nigeria in their team now, including | :24:45. | :24:52. | |
this man, Victor Moses. Stepping away from Ikechi Anya. It will be | :24:53. | :25:00. | |
interesting to see how quickly they can gel. It will be up to the two | :25:01. | :25:08. | |
simple defenders to keep it tight, and not allow Victor Moses to run at | :25:09. | :25:10. | |
them. -- central defenders. Charlie Mulgrew gave the Scots the | :25:11. | :25:45. | |
lead with an exquisite flick. That is back from Robertson. Ikechi Anya | :25:46. | :25:49. | |
had made his run. The flag had gone up, though. That was unlucky. Must | :25:50. | :26:02. | |
have been very close. He just goes a little bit too early. The defenders | :26:03. | :26:08. | |
up in the middle of the park. Getting their hand up for offside. | :26:09. | :26:13. | |
It must be about time for a substitution! Oduamadi of AC Milan | :26:14. | :26:34. | |
coming on. He has had spells at Brescia and Torino. He will be | :26:35. | :26:39. | |
looking to make an impression with Milan, in the Seri our season. | :26:40. | :26:52. | |
That will be halfway down Kensington high Street, that ball. That will be | :26:53. | :27:08. | |
number two missing. Dusk has fallen on London. The floodlights are | :27:09. | :27:13. | |
beaming down. It is a brilliant surface. I managed to get a walk on | :27:14. | :27:21. | |
it and have a look at it. It would be the envy of a lot of football | :27:22. | :27:26. | |
clubs at this time of the season, but that is the technology of today, | :27:27. | :27:34. | |
isn't it? Chris Martin! That was beaten away by. He saw the headlines | :27:35. | :27:51. | |
for his first international goal. -- beaten away by Augustine Ejide. | :27:52. | :28:07. | |
Robertson. Ikechi Anya is waiting in the middle. Charlie Mulgrew kept it | :28:08. | :28:21. | |
in. Charlie Mulgrew onside. That is a corner kick to Scotland. They are | :28:22. | :28:27. | |
playing well. No doubt about it. The lads were playing at half time. It | :28:28. | :28:32. | |
is nice to see Scotland pushing forward and causing problems. This | :28:33. | :28:36. | |
is the chance for Chris Martin. He has been striking these goals all | :28:37. | :28:41. | |
season. Just a little bit too close to the goalkeeper that time. Shaun | :28:42. | :28:49. | |
Maloney's ball, and the goalkeeper has it. | :28:50. | :28:58. | |
Was that offside? It can only have been. The flag was up. He is | :28:59. | :29:08. | |
beginning to annoy the Tartan Army, Simon Bennett on the main stand | :29:09. | :29:16. | |
side. If it is offside it is in the corner flag, and it has just been | :29:17. | :29:18. | |
taken from the opposite side. Igiebor. The Joseph Yobo. George | :29:19. | :29:40. | |
Boyd has it. He set up the chance for Chris Martin. George Boyd had a | :29:41. | :29:51. | |
very good season at Hull City. It is important for him to get games and | :29:52. | :29:55. | |
he is getting games at the very top level. That is the best place to get | :29:56. | :30:01. | |
games. Because you play against better players, so you are going to | :30:02. | :30:14. | |
be tested. It is a good test. Coming to this level, teams who are going | :30:15. | :30:19. | |
toward cups, playing against you. Into the final quarter. Peter | :30:20. | :30:24. | |
Odemwingie, to Victor Moses. looking for that free-kick. Almost | :30:25. | :30:46. | |
into the path of Robertson. He was lucky. If he could only take it on | :30:47. | :30:52. | |
his right foot, he tries to take it with his left. But the break was | :30:53. | :30:56. | |
fantastic between him Andean down the left-hand side, it is nice the | :30:57. | :31:01. | |
see. -- Andrea -- him andAndrea. | :31:02. | :31:08. | |
Nigeria have a corner hee. -- here. | :31:09. | :31:13. | |
They are behind but they are still enjoying their night. | :31:14. | :31:24. | |
It's a test to show. Moses will take. | :31:25. | :31:35. | |
Three Scotland players could have taken turns in getting rid of that | :31:36. | :31:49. | |
ball there. Moses hugging the touchline. | :31:50. | :32:01. | |
Boyd clears. There was a couple of Nigerians lurking round there. | :32:02. | :32:16. | |
Yobo did enough. He won the ball as well. | :32:17. | :32:25. | |
You don't want to be picking up injury just now with a World Cup on | :32:26. | :32:31. | |
the horizon. Odunlami, I mean, I wonder if he has took a bit of | :32:32. | :32:42. | |
cramp. There is nothing worse. He run up and down that right-hand | :32:43. | :32:45. | |
side, he has been chasing Anya all day. | :32:46. | :32:49. | |
The last thing he needs is a muscle pull, a muscle tear at this, so | :32:50. | :32:56. | |
close at going to the World Cup. Looking at this Scotland squad, | :32:57. | :33:01. | |
Scotland team, you were part of a squad who were successful in a | :33:02. | :33:06. | |
qualification campaign, Gordon Strachan has mentioned many times | :33:07. | :33:10. | |
that as a nation, Scotland don't have that one superstar like Wales | :33:11. | :33:18. | |
have Gareth Bale, like Poland subpoena a star player. They have a | :33:19. | :33:28. | |
different work ethic. Is this a team that can qualify in 200016? It will | :33:29. | :33:35. | |
be tough. In the 90s, we got a lot of stick for an ageing side going to | :33:36. | :33:40. | |
the World Cup. . We felt we were in our 20s, it was coming a bit late | :33:41. | :33:44. | |
but what we done, is we were all together, you know, Craig Brown | :33:45. | :33:50. | |
assembled what we classed as a club thing, at international level. We | :33:51. | :33:53. | |
gave it our best shot, the way we wanted to play. We qualified for | :33:54. | :33:57. | |
competitions. I think Gordon is bringing that back, you can see that | :33:58. | :34:00. | |
players are playing for each other the way they play in the link up | :34:01. | :34:04. | |
play. They are willing to run off the ball for people now, of course, | :34:05. | :34:10. | |
that bit of freedom they are getting to show people know, what they can | :34:11. | :34:15. | |
do. It is something we haven't done for probably the last decade, to het | :34:16. | :34:20. | |
Scottish footballers, enjoy themselves and show what they have | :34:21. | :34:24. | |
and now we are seeing it. What we are about to see here is | :34:25. | :34:31. | |
Celtic's FA Ambrose, who is going to come on Odunlami is not going to be | :34:32. | :34:44. | |
able to continue. They are enjoying this the Scotland | :34:45. | :34:49. | |
supporters, they are enjoying the revival, you remember the banner, in | :34:50. | :34:53. | |
SOS message to Gordon Strachan in Brussels. | :34:54. | :34:59. | |
The Scots went down to Belgium. Every -- Ambrose is on for cap 35. | :35:00. | :35:08. | |
We have seen him play at right back for Celtic before, on several | :35:09. | :35:11. | |
occasion, but that is his position with the Nigerian national team and | :35:12. | :35:15. | |
he is on. That is his regular position for the national side. You | :35:16. | :35:21. | |
do find it strange that players play club football in different | :35:22. | :35:25. | |
positions. He has done a fantastic job. Russell Martin not involved for | :35:26. | :35:31. | |
Scotland tonight, he is one of those who plays full-back for Norwich | :35:32. | :35:35. | |
City. Centre half for Scotland. Another one. A lot of players round | :35:36. | :35:40. | |
him, different sides, play different positions and sometimes it is an | :35:41. | :35:45. | |
added bonus to be able to do it. Sometimes it can be a hind -- | :35:46. | :35:53. | |
hindrance. Anya has it. Scotland about to make a change. You | :35:54. | :35:57. | |
might have seen that at the bottom of picture a second or two ago. | :35:58. | :36:04. | |
Craig Forsyth formally of Dundee, in one of the tartan gang at Derby | :36:05. | :36:25. | |
County. Joseph Yobo. Gabriel. Best remembered at kill MAFF knock for | :36:26. | :36:30. | |
conceded a penalty against Dundee in a Scottish defeat. | :36:31. | :36:46. | |
-- Kilmarnock. No-one for -- Craig Forsyth will | :36:47. | :36:53. | |
come on. He hasn't looked out of place, has he. He has had a | :36:54. | :36:59. | |
fantastic game tonight. It gives Scotland a chance to see Craig | :37:00. | :37:09. | |
Forsyth. He is 25. Played for Carnoustie. Left Dundee in 2011, | :37:10. | :37:18. | |
initial loan spell at Derby County. He will need a fine Sergeant Major | :37:19. | :37:24. | |
season -- he had a fine season for the Rams. | :37:25. | :37:30. | |
Odemwingie, pinched from him by Mulgrew. 13 minutes to go. | :37:31. | :38:29. | |
Alan Hutton's free-kick. Headed away by Echiejile. For a second... He | :38:30. | :38:51. | |
couldn't get that. He has had a dozen 20 yard sprints, Anya, down | :38:52. | :38:55. | |
this left hand side. Trying to get on to the ball. Ambrose switched off | :38:56. | :39:17. | |
a bit. Got out of position. Great result for France last night. | :39:18. | :39:25. | |
4-0. Thumping of Norway. They do look like contenders for the | :39:26. | :39:31. | |
World Cup finals, at the start of, which is not too far away. 12th | :39:32. | :39:35. | |
June. Sao Paolo the host, Brazil, against | :39:36. | :39:40. | |
Croatia. Scotland beat them twice in recent | :39:41. | :40:10. | |
times. Still 11 minutes. That is the | :40:11. | :40:14. | |
tactics. She is making another substitution for the manager! | :40:15. | :40:21. | |
Ambrose. He was talking with sadness in his | :40:22. | :40:29. | |
voice a couple of days ago, when he was asked about Neil Lennon and his | :40:30. | :40:33. | |
decision to leave Celtic last Thursday. | :40:34. | :40:41. | |
He was surprised. Surprised a few people. It was Lennon who brought | :40:42. | :40:55. | |
Ambrose to Celtic Park. He made him Celtic captain. The former Celtic | :40:56. | :41:08. | |
boss himself. Ten minutes to negotiate. | :41:09. | :41:32. | |
Haven't lost a game sense January, Nigeria. | :41:33. | :41:37. | |
-- since January, Nigeria. Heading for defeat just now, of | :41:38. | :41:42. | |
course just the very nature of these friendly matches, particularly in | :41:43. | :41:47. | |
the second half, it is very difficult for momentum and passing, | :41:48. | :41:54. | |
coming to fruition given the number of substitutions that are made, the | :41:55. | :41:58. | |
pauses in the games. There is Mulgrew. The pace of this | :41:59. | :42:13. | |
attack. Anya on the volley. That was sitting up. A hard | :42:14. | :42:18. | |
technique to actually do, especially when the defender is coming close to | :42:19. | :42:22. | |
you. A A lovely ball from George Boyd, to | :42:23. | :42:26. | |
set up the chance in the first place for Anya. | :42:27. | :42:31. | |
Ambrose. Scotland about to bring on Steven | :42:32. | :42:58. | |
Whittaker. Ambrose. Chris Martin. | :42:59. | :43:04. | |
First real touch for Forsyth. Finds his club mate Martin, then Mulgrew. | :43:05. | :43:10. | |
Beaten to it by FA Ambrose. -- Efe Ambrose. | :43:11. | :43:20. | |
Uchebo. Switch to most, who switched himself | :43:21. | :43:37. | |
out to the left-wing. Good run from him. | :43:38. | :43:46. | |
That is his forte Victor Moses. Gets on the ball. | :43:47. | :43:53. | |
Along comes Whittaker and off goes Anya, who once again has impressed | :43:54. | :44:00. | |
in a Scotland shirt. I think down the left-hand side he has been | :44:01. | :44:06. | |
fantastic. You know,ian's pace has caused problems when he is on the | :44:07. | :44:13. | |
ball, dribbling, he has had some nice one twos. We will see, I think, | :44:14. | :44:20. | |
George Boyd switching side. Steven Whittaker doubling up on the other | :44:21. | :44:28. | |
side with Alan Hutton. Steven Whittaker's 24th cap. | :44:29. | :44:48. | |
They are singing the Scotland manager's name. Little wonder the | :44:49. | :44:54. | |
way results are going. Six minutes still here. They have a long way to | :44:55. | :44:58. | |
go. Nigeria are pressing us back a bit. We don't want to see us go back | :44:59. | :45:03. | |
too deep. Tired leg, creeping into one or two players. | :45:04. | :45:09. | |
Nigeria free-kick. Alan Hutton perhaps was conceding that, think | :45:10. | :45:12. | |
with handball, he was on the ground because he slipped. At least his | :45:13. | :45:16. | |
hands stopped the ball. It might have been a foul in the previous | :45:17. | :45:21. | |
phase of that move from Nigeria. They do have an opportunity to swing | :45:22. | :45:29. | |
this into the middle. Gabriel there, Ambrose as well. In | :45:30. | :45:33. | |
it comes. That might be a corner. | :45:34. | :45:38. | |
Scotland are hanging on with the players in there. They are trying to | :45:39. | :45:42. | |
man mark it but there are one getting in. The players are looking | :45:43. | :45:47. | |
round now, they are trying to pick up the spare player, trying to | :45:48. | :45:51. | |
defend, Nigeria are getting players into positions to cause problems. | :45:52. | :45:56. | |
Here comes mosts with the corner kick. Flush by Mulgrew. They | :45:57. | :46:04. | |
collected here by Odunlami. That was very clever! It is over the cross | :46:05. | :46:42. | |
bar. Managers... It is good to either high spirits. We have a | :46:43. | :46:47. | |
decent side and we can look at this as a fantastic result, as long as it | :46:48. | :46:49. | |
stays that. The English referee once a | :46:50. | :47:17. | |
word in his ear. He has come in, Scott Brown. If you are going to do | :47:18. | :47:23. | |
a professional foul, you have got to do it on the halfway line. | :47:24. | :47:28. | |
Unfortunately for Scott, he goes in that little bit late and picks up a | :47:29. | :47:36. | |
yellow card. It has not been that physical, this game. Referees do | :47:37. | :47:45. | |
stray on the side of leniency in friendly international, but that was | :47:46. | :47:48. | |
a yellow card every day of the week for Scott Brown. This is | :47:49. | :48:02. | |
meaningful, for a lot of players. Again, that was Nwofor on the end of | :48:03. | :48:20. | |
the course. -- across. He gets in ahead of Gordon Greer. Sometimes you | :48:21. | :48:26. | |
get too much power on the header. Nwofor has scored a couple of times | :48:27. | :48:30. | |
for his country, both of them against South Africa. This is his | :48:31. | :48:52. | |
fifth cap this evening. Odunlami, who went off earlier, had the | :48:53. | :48:57. | |
physiotherapist with him for a while. For the cynics who suggest | :48:58. | :49:07. | |
Scotland are picking up these unduly positive results because they are | :49:08. | :49:11. | |
playing with no pressure, that all changes in September, but how much | :49:12. | :49:18. | |
of it is there in that? It is 11 against 11, as simple as that. You | :49:19. | :49:21. | |
have got to do the best that you can, especially at this level. It is | :49:22. | :49:26. | |
the highest level in football, to play in this arena. And you have got | :49:27. | :49:35. | |
to perform, to win games and get noticed. And that is what a lot of | :49:36. | :49:40. | |
guys do. You see the African nations coming across. Players are playing | :49:41. | :49:48. | |
for their future, to come over and to break into Europe. And to be | :49:49. | :49:55. | |
bought by a club. It is all about Rui Silva all use and things. As | :49:56. | :50:00. | |
well as learning the trade of football -- it is all about resale | :50:01. | :50:08. | |
values. And winning games of football is what Gordon Strachan's | :50:09. | :50:12. | |
side are getting in a very nice habit of doing. You do not want to | :50:13. | :50:19. | |
be happy in defeat. It is not over yet. This is Efe Ambrose. Joseph | :50:20. | :50:31. | |
Yobo. 1951, the last time that Scotland had such a Mac consecutive | :50:32. | :50:36. | |
away match victories. -- four consecutive. Excellent defending by | :50:37. | :50:46. | |
Gordon Greer. And Scotland could not clear the ball. And Nwofor, who had | :50:47. | :50:55. | |
been threatening, rams home and make equaliser for Nigeria and it looks | :50:56. | :50:59. | |
as though Scotland will have to settle for a draw. It was good | :51:00. | :51:05. | |
movement from Nwofor who has caused problems for Scotland since he has | :51:06. | :51:09. | |
come on. Gordon Greer is on the ground, he slipped over. He cannot | :51:10. | :51:15. | |
get himself back up quick enough. And Nwofor has sniffed it out. Good | :51:16. | :51:21. | |
strikers are always alert in the box, and he was other. -- he was | :51:22. | :51:37. | |
alert. Scotland, minutes, if not seconds, from victory, but it is | :51:38. | :51:41. | |
snatched away from them. Three minutes of stoppage time at the end. | :51:42. | :51:50. | |
There might yet be more drama. Grant Hanley could not get the ball clear. | :51:51. | :51:54. | |
Could he have done better? Should he have done better? Nwofor goes to | :51:55. | :52:05. | |
ground, and Gordon Greer has got to scramble and get his feet up. I know | :52:06. | :52:08. | |
that he is going to be tired, but you want to stop anything. Nwofor is | :52:09. | :52:15. | |
alert, Gordon Greer is not, he picks himself up and hits the target. | :52:16. | :52:19. | |
Scotland have gone backwards a little bit. They have been defending | :52:20. | :52:23. | |
a little bit deeper. You can only put that down to the quality of the | :52:24. | :52:26. | |
players that have come on, for Nigeria. You cannot take that away. | :52:27. | :52:34. | |
In the game so far, Scotland have played really well. That was | :52:35. | :52:44. | |
unlucky. Just about to go into the final minute of injury time at | :52:45. | :52:49. | |
Craven Cottage. Nigeria now looking for the winner. They have had a free | :52:50. | :52:55. | |
kick as well. Nwofor has made the difference. He is a fresh pair of | :52:56. | :53:06. | |
legs, and has caused problems, and his supporters are happy now, at | :53:07. | :53:12. | |
getting back on level terms. Gabriel. It will be very harsh on | :53:13. | :53:20. | |
Scotland is Nigeria scored again. Nwofor again causing problems. | :53:21. | :53:26. | |
Victor Moses, and Nigeria are going to have the last laugh. Alan Hutton | :53:27. | :53:30. | |
with the challenge. Still, it is Victor Moses. Alan Hutton claiming | :53:31. | :53:37. | |
that that was out of play. Nigeria will play on in the final few | :53:38. | :53:48. | |
seconds. Gabriel. And Ambrose. Still, they come. That is it. It | :53:49. | :53:54. | |
seconds. Gabriel. And Ambrose. Still, they come. That is it. is a | :53:55. | :53:57. | |
draw. Scotland deserved something out of this game. Lots of positives | :53:58. | :54:04. | |
Ford Gordon Strachan to take. Nwofor celebrating his late leveller. | :54:05. | :54:13. | |
Charlie Mulgrew had given Scotland a fabulous lead, a wonderful flick | :54:14. | :54:17. | |
into the net. Nigeria cancelled that out towards the end of the first | :54:18. | :54:23. | |
half through Michael Uchebo. Scotland took the lead again through | :54:24. | :54:27. | |
an own goal, and then that late leveller coming from Nwofor at the | :54:28. | :54:31. | |
end, denying Scotland victory. Next up, Dortmund, Germany, on the 7th of | :54:32. | :54:37. | |
September. It finished at Craven Cottage, Scotland two, Nigeria two. | :54:38. | :54:44. | |
Six games unbeaten for Gordon Strachan and Scotland. What a | :54:45. | :54:49. | |
disappointing end to a game it seemed Scotland had won. | :54:50. | :54:57. | |
Disappointing for Scotland, but Nigeria gave it a lot in that second | :54:58. | :55:02. | |
half. Scotland had to hang on a little bit. They can still hang onto | :55:03. | :55:09. | |
that unbeaten record. That is one thing they can say. And by the way | :55:10. | :55:18. | |
both sets of fans, what an atmosphere they have created. Let's | :55:19. | :55:25. | |
look at the second-half goals. The second Scotland goal was an all | :55:26. | :55:33. | |
about that play out wide. It is about the fullbacks getting higher | :55:34. | :55:34. | |
up the pitch and causing problems. about the fullbacks getting higher | :55:35. | :55:38. | |
up the It is an own goal at the end of the day but they are in a | :55:39. | :55:42. | |
position to cause problems. He was unlucky later on, with Sean Maloney | :55:43. | :55:49. | |
being ruled offside. Just seconds to the final whistle, just play for the | :55:50. | :55:58. | |
win and take the victory. Kevin Gallacher was right, he needs to get | :55:59. | :56:01. | |
up quicker. He was a little bit sluggish. It is late on in the game, | :56:02. | :56:06. | |
and late on in the season. You can understand it to some degree. But at | :56:07. | :56:11. | |
this level, tiny little mistakes like that, you get caught out. Maybe | :56:12. | :56:18. | |
showing you the areas of the team that we need to strengthen. At | :56:19. | :56:23. | |
centre half we are probably at the weakest. We have got options all | :56:24. | :56:28. | |
over the pitch apart from that area. But they did defend well until the | :56:29. | :56:33. | |
last two minutes. It is another game you are disappointed. But that is a | :56:34. | :56:41. | |
sign of how far we have come. Let's hear from Charlie Mulgrew, who is | :56:42. | :56:52. | |
with Alistair Laming. -- Lamont. It feels like a defeat, to be honest. | :56:53. | :56:56. | |
It is disappointing to lose that goal at that late stage in the | :56:57. | :56:59. | |
manner in which we did after defending so well. We have just got | :57:00. | :57:03. | |
to learn from it and move on. We know that we can play better than | :57:04. | :57:09. | |
that so it is encouraging. There will be some positives to come from | :57:10. | :57:13. | |
the game. Definitely. Definitely a lot more that we can do. We have | :57:14. | :57:17. | |
passed the ball better than that. I think we can pass it even better | :57:18. | :57:23. | |
than that. It is a good thing. It shows that we have still got the | :57:24. | :57:26. | |
result, 2-2, and we did not get beaten. We are disappointed, it | :57:27. | :57:31. | |
feels like a defeat from the late goal, but when we reflect on it | :57:32. | :57:36. | |
there will be positives, for sure. What about your goal? I took the | :57:37. | :57:40. | |
chance because it was going wide, and I managed to flick it, and it | :57:41. | :57:47. | |
went in. Charlie Mulgrew, a big plus for Scotland, among many. Christmas | :57:48. | :57:54. | |
and came on and held the ball up well and linked up well. That is | :57:55. | :57:58. | |
another positive. For me, the main positive tonight was the way that | :57:59. | :58:04. | |
the attack in wide areas. The ball into the box could have been better. | :58:05. | :58:07. | |
We got further up the pitch in wide areas and cause them problems. Allan | :58:08. | :58:11. | |
McGregor made a couple of important says. -- saves. We have had a few | :58:12. | :58:21. | |
top-quality keepers. He has come back from that injury. He's a good | :58:22. | :58:26. | |
reaction save goalkeeper. Not always the best at coming out and attacking | :58:27. | :58:31. | |
and collecting the ball. But as a shot stopper, I do not think that | :58:32. | :58:35. | |
there are many better. A top standard again, after a serious | :58:36. | :58:42. | |
injury. I would like to talk about Gordon Strachan. He says that it is | :58:43. | :58:46. | |
a simple game. Sometimes it is not that easy to be simple in football. | :58:47. | :58:53. | |
People overcomplicated. He does not. He get it right almost every time. | :58:54. | :58:56. | |
These boys know what they are doing now. Just time to tell you about the | :58:57. | :59:02. | |
programme coming up on the website on Saturday. World Cup rewind, of | :59:03. | :59:10. | |
Scotland against the Netherlands from the 1978 World Cup, from three | :59:11. | :59:16. | |
o'clock on the BBC website. In terms of fast forward, it is the | :59:17. | :59:23. | |
qualifiers for Euro 2016. We go into those in good heart. Goodbye for | :59:24. | :59:25. | |
now. | :59:26. | :59:31. |