GUTSY GIBRALTAR MANAGE TO MAKE LIFE A MISERY FOR STRACHAN
SCOTLAND v GIBRALTAR
THE final scoreline suggested otherwise. Yet for Gordon Strachan, there were spells of Scotland’s 6-1 thrashing of Gibraltar that felt like a form of misery.
As rain and wind swirled around Hampden, the Scots endured an unexpectedly jittery, uncomfortable first half.
Gibraltar, a British Overseas territory of 30,000 residents rejected by FIFA and playing in their first UEFA qualification campaign, reacted to Shaun Maloney’s opening penalty by equalising within 60 seconds. It was their first-ever goal in a competitive international.
‘I have to say that all the credit should really go to Gibraltar,’ said Strachan afterwards. ‘They made my life a misery for periods of that game. They made it a long game for me as a coach, so well done to them.
‘But also well done to my team because there were players out there who weren’t having a great game — but they stuck at it.
‘We had some good chances and never took them. It was nice to see Steven Fletcher score a hat-trick. I thought he was one of our better players today.’
Of late, Fletcher has been the subject of unwelcome headlines. Pictured posing beside a £200,000 Lamborghini just after Sunderland had lost 4-0 to Aston Villa, the striker had managed only four goals all season. At international level, his last strike was in a 2-1 win against Iceland in April 2009.
‘Some of his touches were lovely,’ said Strachan. ‘I was wanting more balls in the first half played through but Maloney, Fletcher and ( Steven) Naismith were marked and wanted balls played through.
‘ We played square too many times because they were ready for it and wanted it.
‘We have people who can turn, so I was disappointed with that as well. To be fair, the conditions were not great either.
‘ It was swirling out there. Andy Robertson and Ikechi Anya had problems with that wind in the first half.’
Robertson, the young Hull f ull - back, was dragged out of position when Gibraltar’s Lee Casciano wrote himself into the annals in the 19th minute.
Opting to play with a three-man defence — with only Russell Martin at the centre — Strachan admitted the system had not worked as well as he anticipated.
‘It did get us four goals, but I was expecting that system to work a lot better,’ he said.
‘Their goal threw us a bit. Within any system, you are hoping your players will play to a level but, in the first 10 minutes, we gave the ball away eight or nine times. That’s too much at international level — no matter who you are against.’
The campaign comes down now to Ireland in Dublin on June 13, a huge game in every sense. Win at the Aviva and a play-off place — at least — becomes more likely.
‘After five games, I am delighted we are here and we have 10 points,’ added the manager. ‘I think we are all happy with that. We can go into the second half of this group feeling quite good about ourselves.
‘I look back at the performances and I think four have been terrific so far. This was not one of our best but we got through.
‘We scored six goals and if we had woken up this morning and said we would score six, then we would have settled for that. I wouldn’t have wanted the one against us, but that’s the way football works sometimes.
‘It has been a good old day for everybody. Gibraltar got their first goal and unfortunately David Marshall will always be that name now who is the subject of quiz questions.’
Despite the scoreline, i nterim Gibraltar c oach Davie Wilson can point to the goal his side scored as evidence of improvement.
They host t he Scots in the Algarve in the final round of fixtures, and Wilson said: ‘As a Scotsman, it’s a horrible thought — but we might just be the ones who get the result that spoils my country’s party.
‘They come to us in the last game and, although I’m not naive enough to say we’ll beat them, if Scotland are under pressure to get a result, who knows?’
Meanwhile, Maloney insisted there was no disappointment at being beaten t o an historic Scotland hat-trick by Fletcher.
The former Celtic winger, now with MLS outfit Chicago Fire, netted two first-half penalties to look the most likely to complete the first treble since Colin Stein in 1969.
However, Fletcher’s two secondhalf finishes gave him the distinction instead, which Maloney insisted was only right.
‘Steven Fletcher deserved it more than I did,’ he said. ‘I was happy for him. In the last week, his scoring record has been spoken about and we are all pleased he got the hat-trick.’
Maloney’s spot-kick successes came either side of the Casciaro leveller that stunned Hampden.
‘Everyone talks about the first goal in these sorts of games,’ added Maloney. ‘To get it and then concede was like the pressure valve being turned back on.
‘It’s a different type of pressure. There’s expectation playing Gibraltar but you have to be respectful.
‘When it goes 1-1, there’s a different pressure to the Ireland game or Germany away.
‘We went on and got a result that is comparable to how the other teams have done against Gibraltar. There shouldn’t be too much disappointment at not getting seven or eight.’
Scott Brown was restored as Scotland’s captain, with Darren Fletcher left on the bench. The Celtic midfielder played down any sense of rivalry over who wears the armband.
‘It’s the media making a big deal of the captaincy. Darren and I are just sitting in the dressing room talking away,’ he said. ‘ There’s a strong bond within the squad. There are no big-time Charlies, everyone is down to earth and we have a great bunch of lads.’
Delighted with the result, despite the early scare, Brown added: ‘If you remember Liechtenstein in 2010, it was 90-odd minutes when we got t he winner. Stephen McManus managed to get a knee, shin, toe to it, whatever it was, and get us the win.
‘The main thing was for us to get the win. We’re just worried about getting the points on the board.’