Austria game ending early wasn’t funny

FOOTBALL can be a funny old game. Take last Sunday’s clash between Glasgow’s Big Two, for instance.

After a first-half when Celtic pretty much controlled the play and one of their strikers missed a sitter, Rangers came back after the break and it was a case of both sides passing the ball round, looking for an opening.

Then the only goal of the game arrived, a product of a fine corner, poor marking in defence and a timely header.

If you were to sum up the match you’d have to say all the passing came to nothing and the only goal came from a simple cross. It can be a funny old game?

More seriously, it was an excellent result for Rangers, who, after that trip to Armenia, had to put up with a few days of dealing with the problems of Covid which had struck the club, even causing the manager to miss the match.

There was little that could be described as funny in Scotland’s midweek match against Denmark. The Danes took control right from the start and put what looked like a very uncertain Scottish defence under frequent pressure.

Both goals could have been prevented with better marking and although we did improve after the break, we made few chances.

Next up for Scotland is Moldova, a nation we’ve only played twice. The first came in 2004, in the capital of Chisinau and was a 1-1 draw.

The second was at Hampden in 2005 when Scotland won 2-0, with both goals coming from subs – Christian Dailly and James McFadden.

Three points tonight are essential and it would be excellent to pick up some more against Austria on Tuesday. We drew 2-2 with them in our first group game and our overall record against them is probably average – P21, W6, D7, L8.

But with the match in Vienna, the Austrians will be up or the occasion and we must be at our best.

Whenever I hear the names Austria and football together, I think of a most unusual day in the history of the Scottish game. In 1963 a crowd of 94,596 were in Hampden to see what might have been designated as a friendly but it turned out to be anything but.

Two Austrians were sent off, Nemec for spitting and Hof for a waist-high tackle. But the mayhem continued.

Eventually, in the 79th minute, the ref – Jim Finney from Preston – abandoned the game because of ‘persistent fouling by the Austrian players’.

That decision was not to the liking of the home fans. Scotland were leading 4-1 at the time!

Nemec off for spitting, Hof for a waist-high tackle, but mayhem continued