Scotland’s final preparation match before the start of the World Cup qualifiers next month saw them held to a 0-0 draw with 10 man Northern Ireland at Hampden Park on Wednesday night. David Healy saw a second half penalty saved for the visitors.
The road to South Africa starts for George Burley’s team starts in Skopje, Macedonia 2 weeks tomorrow but there was an unnatural feel to the Scots side. Minus injured regulars Barry Ferguson, who will miss the Macedonia and Iceland double header, and Tottenham full back Allan Hutton, who is rated doubtful, the starting lineup contained some surprise names.
As usual, Craig Gordon started in goal with Graham Alexander and Gary Naysmith deployed in the full back areas. Davie Weir was a last minute call up to partner Celtic’s Stephen McManus at the heart of the defence; a pairing Burley must be seriously considering to start Group 9 with.
In midfield, the expected trio of Scott Brown, Manchester United’s Darren Fletcher and West Brom’s James Morrison started, but Kevin Thomson of Rangers started ahead of Barry Robson to earn his first cap. Burley started with Kenny Miller and Tartan Army talisman James McFadden up front.
Once the action kicked off, it led to a rather disappointing first half for the 28,072 of us present at the National Stadium, including around 6,000 fans from across the Irish sea. Scotland however enjoyed the majority of the possession and any chances, albeit half chances, that were fashioned fell the home side’s way.
Nigel Worthington’s team have to be commended for the resoluteness of their display; they, led by the quite superb Johnny Evans in the middle of defence, were content to soak up the pressure and frustrate the Scots.
Scotland were finding the midfield area congested and lacked the guile or imagination to break through the Irish rearguard. The one man most likely to break through for the home side was McFadden. Scotland looked to feed the ball to him quickly and the expectation of the crowd rises as soon as he receives it at his feet.
He did create our first real chance on his own with a brilliant dart in between defenders after controlling a flighted ball on his chest but he couldn’t get the ball out of his feet and stabbed a weak shot at his Birmingham team-mate Maik Taylor.
As deep as the Irish sat, Scotland’s passing began to go astray, with Darren Fletcher in particular becoming frustrated with unsuccessful passes. James Morrison started brightly on the left and was supported well by Naysmith, but Scotland’s attacks focused on the right hand side of the pitch, with Scott Brown bombing forward with Alexander behind. All too often though, the final ball into the box was poor and Northern Ireland cleared easily.
The visitors did fashion one half chance in the opening period but record Irish scorer Healy fired well over from 20 yards out. The referee from Denmark was also courting some controversy with some baffling decisions but was forced to produce the first card of the night for the visitors’ debutant Ryan McGivern following a late tackle on Brown.
At half time, Burley made three changes and history was made for Falkirk FC. Their 23 year old defender Darren Barr replaced McManus and in doing so became the first Bairns player to be capped for Scotland since 1959. Also on were goalkeeper McGregor for Gordon, while Robson replaced Thomson, who had looked lively during the first half.
Scotland once more started the second half on the front foot and Robson sent a 25 yard shot over the bar as the hosts were restricted to long range efforts. Then on 57 minutes came the period in which the friendly exploded into life.
Another rampaging run by Brown down the right saw him burst past two Irish players, on whom was McGivern and he hauled the Celtic man to the ground. In a competitive game, it would probably be a red card on its own but the referee booked him again and sent him packing. Many thought it was harsh that the Manchester City youngster’s international debut ended this way, but the letter of the law gave the ref no choice, friendly or not.
This should have seen Scotland take the initiative and McFadden was inches away with a superb curling shot but Northern Ireland then counter attacked and won a penalty.
Good play on the right saw the ball poked in between defenders Weir and Naysmith, who had failed to spot the on rushing Warren Feeney and with McGregor racing from his line, the on-loan Dundee United man won the race and was brought crashing to the ground. A stonewall penalty and a booking for the goalkeeper.
But McGregor has an incredible knack of saving penalties. He saved to deny Dundee United victory in last season’s CIS Cup final and saved on the opening day of the season at Falkirk, and it was 34 goal Healy who stepped up. His effort was firmly struck towards the bottom left hand corner but McGregor flew himself at it and made a brilliant one handed stop to keep Scotland level.
The atmosphere in both ends of the ground was raised a notch and Scotland went close again; Robson’s corner was met on the run by the head of Barr, but unfortunately his header ended straight in the arms of Taylor.
Burley continued to make changes, with Christophe Berra and Michael Stewart of Hearts, along with debutant Kris Commons of Derby, coming on and Commons especially showed some good touches in the wide areas. A teasing cross from the left spun up on the surface and struck Evans on the arm, cueing half hearted appeals for a penalty.
At the other end, Barr was perhaps a tad fortunate not to concede a penalty as Healy went down following a good cross from the right hand side. Scotland huffed and puffed as they pressed for a winner but Taylor proved his worth to the Irish.
A long range effort from Alexander which skidded along the turf was brilliantly turned around the post and he followed that up with an even better save just nine minutes from time. Another corner from Robson was flicked on by Barr to McFadden at the back post and after adjusting his feet quickly, he fired a first time shot at goal but Taylor was there to make a superb block.
And Northern Ireland were able to hold out for a draw which must give them great confidence ahead of their World Cup opener with Slovakia. Defensively they were solid, led by the superb Evans and Stephen Craigan and while they lacked a threat up front, their midfield worked tirelessly to close Scotland down and deny them time and space on the ball.
The hosts by contrast had the majority of the play and the chances. Burley will be happy with the defensive play, especially young Barr, but going forward Scotland gave the ball away cheaply too often and the crossing was poor. McFadden and Miller worked hard to make things happen but service to them wasn’t great and on this showing it doesn’t look as if the pairing will work. I was astounded neither Steven Fletcher or Kris Boyd were introduced to play alongside one of them.
As well as I thought Morrison and Commons played on the left, and even though he prefers playing as a main striker, in Macedonia I’d like to see McFadden drop back onto the left hand side and play Miller with someone like Boyd. This would be for two reasons. McFadden is much more dangerous running at defenders even though he can over elaborate while if we are to utilise our wide players and the onrushing full backs as Burley likes, then we have to have a bigger target in the box as jumping against Scotland’s front two was meat and drink for Evans and Craigan.
Overall, Burley’s post-match assertion that it was a “worthwhile exercise” will not be disputed by the majority of us at Hampden. There were plusses in the shape of the those making their first caps and the fact Scotland had the better of it despite missing key players. However, improvements must be made in terms of ball retention and chances created if we are to get our Group 9 campaign off to a flyer in Skopje.
Ross Hart.
