Cesar: We will silence Hampden

SLOVENIA captain Bostjan Cesar says his side will aim to hush a half-empty Hampden when they face Scotland tonight.

The fed-up Tartan Army have responded to their team’s nightmare World Cup campaign by snapping up fewer than 30,000 tickets so far for the Scots’ make-orbreak qualifier.

Chievo defender Cesar has sampled the Hampden roar before when his side last visited Glasgow back in 2004 and was blown away by the experience.

And he reckons it will be a significant boost for his side – who have Fiorentina ace Josip Ilicic fit after an ankle injury scare – if the famously noisy home support stay at home.

He said: “I played here in 2004 and remember the atmosphere was amazing, really good.

“If the stadium will not be full and the atmosphere not at full capacity then that could be a plus for us.

“But we still have to do it on the pitch.” Gordon Strachan’s side sit second bottom of Group F having claimed just four points from the opening four games.

They have shipped an average of two goals per game and Cesar believes Slovenia will be able to exploit weaknesses at the back.

He said of Scotland: “They have conceded a lot of goals but they have a high level to their game.

“They played well until they conceded the first goal against both Slovakia and England, but we know it is hard to play once you go behind.

“They are aggressive all over the pitch and have good players but maybe their weakness is at the set-pieces because they leave too much room for the opponents to score at that time.”

However, the visitors’ head coach Srecko Katanec reckons Strachan’s men are more dangerous than the table suggests.

“When Scotland play at home they are always the favourite,” Katanec said. “They are in the situation where they have to win to stay in the competition for the second place.

“We want to win as well because one point for a draw is not worth very much. We know it will be hard. We expect an aggressive opponent, a determined opponent.

“I don’t think they are as bad as the results in the previous matches suggest. We have analysed them a lot.

“They conceded a lot of their goals unluckily, so the past results won’t make us jump to any conclusions about the Scottish team.” CRAIG CATHCART should return to the fold for Northern Ireland against Norway in his first appearance since Euro 2016 having overcome a groin problem that stumped even European specialists.

The Watford defender has missed the first four World Cup qualifiers with an injury that has restricted him to only 13 appearances for his club and cost him three months of the season.

He embarked on a European tour in a bid to find a solution. He visited five different countries, having surgery in Munich and then heading on to Qatar before his comeback on January 1.

“It was probably the worst injury I’ve had just due to the fact it was so hard to get a diagnosis and it was a complicated area so you end up with pain in all areas,” the 28-year-old said.

“I was getting pain in my groin, and my lower abs, so it took a while to get a diagnosis.

“I went to Italy, Spain, Germany, Holland, Denmark – it was a bit of a tour.”

Cathcart returns to face one of the Premier League’s form strikers in Bournemouth’s Norwegian star Joshua King.

He said: “I have known him since he was 15 – he has developed into a top player now and we will have to try and stop him.”