CONFIDENT McGREGOR BUOYED BY DECENT DRAW

ALL we ever asked for was a chink of light. A puncher’s chance of getting to Euro 2020 without the need to fall back on the play-off berth that’s already been secured. As Alex McLeish departed Dublin on Sunday evening, the Scotland manager had cause to be thankful. A group pitting his side against Belgium, Russia, Cyprus, Kazakhstan and San Marino presents myriad footballing and practical challenges but also offers substantial hope that automatic qualification can be secured by finishing first or second over the course of next year. As ever with such matters, a sense of perspective is required. Belgium, World Cup semi-finalists and presently the No1 ranked side on the planet, are quite evidently a formidable top seed. But for all they exceeded expectations at the tournament they hosted in the summer, Russia are a more than acceptable draw from pot two. If San Marino’s main objective will be keeping the score down, many a past campaign will warn McLeish against the perils of taking either the Cypriots or the Kazakhstanis for granted. The not-insignificant hope is also mixed with a degree of relief. Northern Ireland have the Netherlands and Germany for company. Good luck with that, Michael O’Neill. ‘I think it’s a good draw, especially when you look at some of the other groups we could’ve had,’ offered Celtic midfielder Callum McGregor. ‘There’s probably a lot of travelling, far and wide. ‘But I think we’ve got a good chance, particularly off the back of a couple of weeks ago and how we finished the Nations League. ‘Everybody will be full of confidence, everybody will be wanting to turn up and do their best for the country as always. ‘Look at the Germany-Holland group. We could’ve been in that, so we’ve got to take positives. ‘I also think some of the games in our group are definitely winnable.’ It’s been a fine fortnight for McLeish. In defeating Albania and Israel to secure top spot in our Nations League group, the Scotland manager blew away the growing negativity around his appointment. With a semi-final play-off against Finland pencilled in for March 2020, the 59-yearold now has a mandate to tackle the regular qualifiers which will begin in Kazakhstan on March 21 next year. ‘It is obviously a hard group,’ added Celtic’s James Forrest. ‘You don’t expect it to be anything else. ‘There are some hard teams in it and there is no such thing as an easy international match. ‘But once they come around, I’d hope everyone is still feeling good with what happened in the two matches last month.’