PERU FAILURE IN ’78 STILL HAUNTS ROUGH

ALAN Rough admits the mere mention of Peru brings him out in a cold sweat – yet losing to the South Americans at the 1978 World Cup is still not the lowest point of his Scotland career.

That came four days later against Iran as the Tartan Army’s dream of lifting the biggest prize crumbled.

The current Scotland side are due to face the Peruvians in the early hours of next Wednesday and the build-up has brought some painful memories flooding back for the retired goalkeeper.

Ally McLeod’s team had been waved off to the finals in Argentina by a delirious 30,000-strong crowd at Hampden as jingoism swept the country.

However, they were quickly brought back down to earth with a bump as Peru dished out a damaging 3-1 defeat i n their tournament opener.

While t hat defeat is regarded by many as Scotland’s worst ever, for Rough, the 1-1 draw with Iran remains the blackest moment of a career that took in three World Cups.

The Scots hit back in the final game for a 3-2 win against Holland still talked about to this day but the damage had already been done as they crashed out at the first hurdle.

“Peru still brings me out in a cold sweat,” Rough said.

“Losing that game, however, still i sn’t my biggest low in a Scotland jersey – that came a few days later against Iran.”