Hartley keeps faith in his former boss ahead of Scotland’s crunch World Cup qualifier

Dundee boss believes Strachan has high hopes for freshened-up Scotland

Paul Hartley’s one and only goal for Scotland came against Slovenia.

Qualification hopes for the 2006 World Cup had already been extinguished when the Dundee manager contributed to a convincing 3-0 win away from home.

But Hartley believes all hope is not lost as the present-day national team prepare to face the same country at Hampden Park on Sunday.

After speaking to Gordon Strachan recently, he sensed that his former Celtic boss has high hopes for his freshened-up squad.

And Hartley insisted that this is no time for picking over the bones of earlier disappointments that leave them fifth in the Group F table.

“We have to stick by the manager,” he said. “He is there to see us through the campaign. Gordon, himself, will know if it is time to walk or not but we have got to get behind him.

“He is up for it. I have had a couple of chats with him over the past couple of weeks and he is really excited about the Slovenia game.

“I took him back from the Aberdeen v Motherwell game to Dundee a couple of weeks ago. He was so excited about the squad and the build up to things.

“The manager is at his best when he is on the training pitch and his coaching ability is second to none. We need to get behind the manager and hopefully we can get the win we all want against Slovenia.”

Hartley added: “It is a big game for us and one we need to take three points from. We need to have our best players available. I have looked at the squad and it looks a good squad with good young players in it. Hopefully, we can manage to get the win.

“The performance against England at Wembley was encouraging. Let’s make sure we put the right team out to get points against Slovenia.”

Hartley’s 2005 goal, when Walter Smith was manager, was one of his career highlights.

“I chipped the goalkeeper from 25 yards,” he recalled. “Just to play for my country was an honour.

“I came on to the stage late at 28 and so I was really appreciative of every game I played and pulled on the jersey.”

Scotland are four points adrift (and nine Fifa ranking places) off secondplaced Group F nation Slovenia.

It’s a big change from 12 years ago but Hartley isn’t reading too much into that.

“That happens in international football,” he said.

“You have a spell where you are excellent and then you try and bring through the next generation of players. I have looked at the squad that Gordon has picked and I am really excited about it.

“Kieran Tierney, young Ryan Fraser at Bournemouth, who I played with at Aberdeen, and Matt Phillips – we have some good young players.”

Fraser’s career choice from the north of Scotland to the south coast of England was a brave one, according to Hartley.

“He took a massive gamble to go to England League One,” he said.

“The move has paid off for him. You can see that by his performances in the Premier League.

“He has really established himself. You want young players to gain the experience of having 80 to 100 games under their belts but he took a chance and it has worked out for him.”

SNS. Paul Hartley, centre, celebrating his goal against Slovenia in October 2005, has called on Scotland fans to get behind the team.

Ryan Fraser, a former team-mate of Paul Hartley at Aberdeen, has excelled recently for Bournemouth, proving the gamble to quit Pittodrie was worthwhile.