Bannan: I deserved my chance to prove the doubters wrong
Barry Bannan was probably the last name any Scotland supporter wanted to see on the team-sheet at Hampden last Thursday night.
The Sheffield Wednesday midfielder was, standing at just 5ft 6in in his stocking soles, judged too small to shoulder the weight of replacing skipper Scott Brown in one of the country’s biggest games for many years.
For all manager Gordon Strachan’s public talk of the player’s credentials, his was a selection not many could fathom.
This, the popular consensus agreed, was a player who lacked the flashy club form of Callum McGregor, the energy and drive of John McGinn and the current-day Premier League credentials of James McArthur. The 27-year-old, though, wasn’t fazed. If Bannan’s career has taught him anything, it is that a solid work ethic, allied to his extravagant natural ability, is a winning combination.
“For me to start in such a big game was brilliant. It tells you the manager has faith in you to do the job,” he said.
“I played in the first three games of the campaign when results didn’t go to plan, so obviously there were going to be changes. I was one of them.
“But I probably deserved to play in this one.
“I am talking based on what I’ve been doing in training, the way I react to not playing, the way I keep working hard and showing the manager what I’m all about.
“Obviously players got injured – Scott Brown and Stuart Armstrong – and that was unfortunate for them, but fortunate for me.
“They have done really, really well and we’ve had great results so you’ve got to wait your turn.
“We’ve got players who are winning every week at their clubs and playing really well.
“There are a lot of players whose confidence is sky high.
“However, you have to concentrate on your own game because you have got to be ready if needed.”
Ready Bannan certainly was, shrugging off an indifferent first-half display to help Scotland to the win which sets up today’s opportunity to grab a play-off shot at reaching World Cup 2018, and the country’s first appearance at a major Finals since 1998.
“We said when we were coming out that it was a win-or-bust game, that it was finished if we didn’t win. So it was a big relief at the end to get the goal and take it into the Slovenia game,” said Bannan.
“It’s hard when you hit the crossbar so many times and their keeper is so brilliant for them. You can get yourself a bit down, but as a group we have got this never-saydie attitude.
“We were written off at the start of the campaign. People were talking about a crisis. But as a team and coaching staff, we all stuck together.
“We knew that if we worked hard and kept going, we could turn this around.
“We knew we had a mountain to climb. But we also knew there were a lot of games to put it right. In football, there are always games just round the corner.
“As much as you’re down at that moment in time, we’ve got big characters in that changing-room and a brilliant team spirit.
“They were saying: ‘We’re not out of it’, and we’ve now given ourselves a great chance. We go to Slovenia with the group in our hands.”
Winners of their last three qualifiers, unbeaten in five now, Scotland have genuine reason to believe they can sweep their way into the play-offs.
“Confidence is sky high. We played against a top, top team on Thursday and we came away with a good result,” Bannan continued.
“Listen, it’s not over. We’ve got a big game in Ljubljana and it is a challenge we’re looking forward to.
“Slovakia was one of the best feelings I’ve had for a while. But to qualify for a World Cup would be brilliant.
“It would be the biggest achievement I’ve had in my career.”
A nation expects.