O’Donnell: Scotland’s World Cup bid will go down to wire

Wishaw ace Stephen O’Donnell reckons Scotland’sWorld Cup qualification hopes haven’t been blown off course by drawing their first two games - and insists the campaign will go down to the wire.

The national side fought back from a goal down inTel Aviv to earn a 1-1 draw with Israel on Sunday night, just days after coming from behind twice at Hampden to hold Austria 2-2 in their Group F opener.

It leaves Scotland four points adrift of group leaders Denmark, but Motherwell defender O’Donnell believes there’s still more twists and turns to come in a competitive section.

Scotland now face minnows Faroe Islands onWednesday night looking for their first win and O’Donnell said:“I think you always look to win your games and only come the end of the campaign can you see if this is a missed opportunity.

“I think being undefeated after the first two games is a positive start.We knew from the get go that this was a tight group.

“There’s not a lot between the teams and we have to make sure we don’t slip up badly. Going down again, it could have happened, but we came together and got the draw.

“We have a very tough game at Hampden off the back of a difficult journey, to hopefully get the three points and if we are sitting with five points at the end of the camp, there’s a lot more positivity around.

“It’s a positive start. Maybe we’d like to be in a better position but it’s certainly going to be a tight group and if anybody thought this wasn’t going to the wire, it certainly is.”

O’Donnell now has 18 caps for his country and drew praise forThursday’s performance against Austria, which saw him skin Bayern Munich’s David Alaba, a two-time Champions League winner.

On top of that there was a cheeky backheel nutmeg on Florian Grillitsch and he provided the assist for Grant Hanely’s goal to make it 1-1.

National boss Steve Clarke said:“I thought he was really good [against Austria]. Sometimes his decision making in forward areas could be a little bit better, but he is improving all the time.

“He is a good international player and always does well for his country.”