‘I wanted everyone to savour the moment...’
Man of the match Griffiths ran the full gamut of emotions when exhilaration turned to exasperation at Hampden Park, reports Neil Cameron
LEIGH GRIFFITHS was joking, maybe, when he threatened to smash his man of the match bottle of champagne over his head as it would brought him some blessed lack of consciousness.
His two free-kicks, as dramatic a goal(s) as any Scotland player has ever scored, would have made him a national treasure had his team managed to hold on. The Celtic man was still the hero but Harry Kane’s even later equaliser did rather put a damper on the day.
However, while it robbed the Scots of two precious World Cup points – they will now need to win their four final matches – the agony in injury time didn’t take anything away from a superb performance by Griffiths.
“I have mixed emotions,” he said with some understatement. “I am happy and devastated for the rest of the lads. But in the end it could be a valuable point for us.
“At the first free-kick, Charlie Mulgew fancied it and I told him that I fancied it as well. He told me to get it on target and see what happens. At the second. Charlie gave me a pep talk by saying I’d scored one, now go and get a second.
“At the second, as soon as I bent it around the wall, I knew it was going in and I was away running already. I fell to my knees when Harry Kane scored. He is the top goalscorer in the Premier League for a reason and that’s what he does best.”
For a few minutes, there was no better place to be than Hampden. The stadium was rocking at 2-1 and the celebrations were something to see, even if they were to be short loved.
“It’s probably one of my best feelings in football when that second goal went in and that’s why I did half a lap of Hampden in celebration,” said Griffiths. “I would have jumped in the crowd. I got carried away a bit and when the
boys grabbed me I just wanted everyone to savour the moment because these moments don’t come around too often.
“You don’t think about anything at the time. When something like that happens at that time of the game and on an occasion of such importance against that quality off opposition, your mind just goes.
“There’s a lot of people who wanted to be at the game and couldn’t for obvious reasons. So whether they were watching back home or in Ibiza, like my mates, I think they had a good ten-minute spell to enjoy. I spoke to a couple before the game, wishing me well, and I got a few messages afterwards saying the Highlander pub in Ibiza went absolutely nuts.
“I wish I was flying over to join them but it’s my wee boy’s Jacob’s birthday today so I’m going to give him a cake. So that’s me, I’ll be tucking him into bed later.”
Mulgrew, the free-kick coach, was another who really stood up. He might look back on the Kane goal and believe he should have done better; however, that would be harsh on the 31-year-old who left nothing on the pitch.
“I’ve never seen an ending like that in my life,” he admitted. “Someone said in the dressing room it would probably have been the best moment of most people’s careers if we’d held onto it.
“It would have been a much better feeling than how we feel now. Everyone is devastated, we’re gutted but if we’d scored in the last minute to make it 1-1 or 2-2 then we’re buzzing. It’s one of those weird feelings in football but in a couple of days we’ll look back and say we got a draw,
“Would we have taken a draw before the game?
“I don’t know. We’ll move on and take the positives.”
There is now no room for error. Scotland can’t drop any more points. But they still have a sniff of a chance of second place and a play-off.
“We looked at this game at the next two and probably thought we needed seven points, I personally thought that anyway,” said Mulgrew. “We’ve taken a point from this and hopefully we can get a couple of results in the next two.”
Scotland are a frustrating team. How can a group play so badly in one game and then come within an inch of pulling off one of the finest results in the country’s history?
“We’re never going to be the best team in the world and we haven’t got the best players in the world,” said Christophe Berra.
“On paper, England’s players are a lot better than us, they play at bigger clubs, but if you’re watching that game today, we more than matched them. That’s why we have to be proud of ourselves.
“We’re digging in, we’re scoring late goals. We still have a lot to play for with four winnable games to come. We have Slovakia at home, we’ve already beaten Slovenia. There are tough away games but if we play like that, with that desire, attitude and application we’ve got a right good chance.”