GORDON BENNETT! STRACHAN WANTS ENGLAND TO WIN
Scotland v Malta Tomorrow, 7.45pm
GORDON STRACHAN last night backed England to beat Slovakia – and keep alive Scotland’s bid to reach the World Cup finals.
The stunning 3-0 win over Lithuania on Friday was the first of four needed to keep Russia within sight.
But even another win over Malta tomorrow would be almost meaningless if England lose to the Slovaks, who have won five on the bounce in Group F.
Three points for the visitors at Wembley would put them top and all-but-end Scots hopes.
Anything less, though, and Scotland could still overtake Slovakia with a win at Hampden on October 5, with the final game, a trip to Slovenia, three days later.
Strachan said: “England need to do themselves a favour because if they don’t do well and get beat, Slovakia go top. And, aye, I’d like it to happen – I just can’t do anything about it!
“Slovakia have been fantastic and they have some good players, but we’re hoping that we’ll be in a position that our good players will be all right against theirs when we get together again.
“England have got to be on their toes because, if they lose to Slovakia, that’ll put them a point behind.”
If Scotland do manage to win their remaining games, it will be the first time they have won four matches on the bounce in a World Cup qualifying group.
Striker Chris Martin is hoping he can be paired with Celtic’s Leigh Griffiths to maul Malta.
He said: “I would like to think we could form a decent partnership.
“He’s had a spell down in England that maybe wasn’t as successful as he’s been up here, but he’s a totally different player to the one that was at Wolves.
“We saw the quality he’s got in that England game.”