ANYA CLINGS ON TO A SLITHER OF HOPE

A SNOWBALL in hell now appears to have more chance than Scotland reaching Russia in 2018. Even if Slovakia, Slovenia and, heaven help us, Lithuania somehow contrive to cut each other’s throats, the small matter of the poorest second-placed side being excluded from the play-offs surely bolts the door firmly shut in our faces. But if the distressing shape Group F has taken suggests Scotland’s long-suffering is indeed worsening, the fact remains we have not yet reached the midway point of this latest chastening episode. For Ikechi Anya, slim hope is better than no hope at all. With six qualifying matches yet to come, four of which are at Hampden, the Derby man’s rudimentary arithmetic is enough to prevent him resigning himself to the inevitable. ‘We are still looking at 2018,’ he insisted. ‘We are four points off second and have four home games coming up. ‘We are looking to take maximum points from the matches at Hampden. We have England again in the summer which will be a great fixture, and we are not looking any further than qualifying for the World Cup. ‘We have got to take 12 points from four (home) games. But that is international football and

you have to play with these pressures — and that can bring out the best in you.’ It’s difficult to be overly critical of Scotland’s efforts on Friday. Anya’s lot on the night rather summed it up. Nominally a winger, he was deployed as a right-back. Somehow stopping Tottenham’s Danny Rose and Liverpool’s Adam Lallana’s perpetual motion was his unenviable assignment. ‘The gaffer spoke about their threat on the wings and he asked me if I’d be happy to do a job there,’ he said. ‘I have played there a few times with Watford last season, so I was happy to do that and thought I did okay against some speed merchants. ‘I am just grateful to be in the game. If the gaffer, any gaffer I work under, wants me to play out there… I am just happy to be playing football.’ It was only in the closing stages of the contest that the game resembled a mismatch. Sure, by then the home fans were mocking in their cries of ‘ole’ as their side kept the ball. But this was never a humiliation. Only the expected outcome of a game between two squads of widely differing ability. ‘You guys watched the game — it was never a 3-0 by any stretch of the imagination,’ stated Anya. ‘If we get that one goal then it’s a different game. I think we would have had them on the ropes in the second half.’