A LOYALTY BONUS FOR LEWIS
Ferguson thanks Clarke for show of faith despite Dons’ dismal season
WHILE a player’s form and ability will always be the main determining factors when it comes to a manager selecting his squad, loyalty and trust will invariably figure somewhere in the reckoning.
Called up to the full Scotland party for the first time by Steve Clarke in August, Lewis Ferguson was in there on merit.
Ahead of the 22-year-old midfielder’s first senior cap against Denmark, Aberdeen’s scintillating start to the season had tailed off somewhat but was still fresh in the mind.
The intervening weeks have brought little but torment. Despite Ferguson scoring in Sunday’s loss to Celtic, the match proved to be the fourth straight league reverse for Stephen Glass’ side.
The Dons are now ninth in the table, out of Europe, out of the Premier Sports Cup and have gone nine games across all competitions without a win.
Against the backdrop of such a dramatic downturn in form, Ferguson appreciates that some eyebrows will have been raised when he retained the faith of the Scotland manager for the games with Israel and the Faroe Islands.
Truth be told, he would not have been hugely surprised if the current travails of his club had persuaded Clark that it might be better if he’d sat these ones out.
‘It’s in the back of your mind,’ he admitted. ‘I’ve just had to try and perform and give everything so that if the manager of Scotland was watching, I’ve been playing at the best level I can.
‘It is difficult when we’re not getting results. It’s hard and it was in the back of my mind, so I’m thankful that I’m back in the squad and back involved.
‘I loved it the last time, which was my first time being involved with those guys. I already knew half of them already and had played against a lot of them from playing against each other.
‘I know David Turnbull, we are good mates, Billy Gilmour, Nathan Patterson — I know all of them from the Under- 21s.
‘So it wasn’t daunting joining up. Everyone made me feel really welcome.
‘It was great and obviously we got some good results and I got some minutes on the pitch. I’m really glad to be involved again. I’m in good company with loads of good players.’
At any level of football, loyalty is a prized commodity, and the significance of Ferguson’s name being in the 24-man squad on the back of two cameos against Denmark and Austria is not lost on him. Clarke evidently has a faith in him that’s undiminished by a difficult spell at Pittodrie. Given the opportunity at Hampden on Saturday, the midfielder fully intends justifying that.
‘Those cameos whetted my appetite,’ he explained. ‘It’s everyone’s dream to play for your country. You get a wee taste of it and you want more.
‘To be involved in two big games against two really good opponents was good. I was delighted, even if it wasn’t for long, just to get on the pitch.
‘Getting on away to Austria when you are 1-0 up in the last five minutes showed me that the manager has a real trust in me. I rarely get nervous but I knew we had a job to do. It’s weird going on at 1-0 so late in the game because all you think is: “Don’t lose a goal”.
‘I was told to go on, buy fouls and try to get us up the pitch as much as I could. So even though it was just for five minutes, I got a few touches and it was brilliant to be involved in that sort of result.
‘I’m looking forward to going back and hopefully getting more minutes.
‘Now I am in the fold, I need to keep it going and hopefully cement my place in the squad.’
The importance of that last victory over the Austrians is hard to overstate. Coming after a humbling loss in Copenhagen, a one-goal win over Moldova did not engender much optimism ahead of the trip to Vienna.
Now in second place in the group thanks to Lyndon Dykes’ penalty, what was already an important match against Israel has now assumed epic proportions.
Were Clarke’s men to edge it, all that would stand between them and another play-off place would be wins in the Faroe Islands and Moldova. Little wonder the manager has labelled this Saturday evening’s clash as a cup final.
‘It’s a massive game, probably the biggest since the Euros,’ said Ferguson. ‘This is a chance to make a statement and to try and get that second spot.
‘It’s a huge game, so we have to go in with a positive mindset and try to win it. Everyone in Scotland, the players, the staff and the fans want to be going to a World Cup.
‘We need to keep the momentum going now. The game against Israel is absolutely massive. We had good results in the last camp, so we need to continue that and keep it going.
‘We want to get to every major tournament. These are the games that you have to win if you are going to get there.’
A seventh meeting between the sides in three years, Scotland and Israel are not bound by law to lock horns so frequently. It just feels like it.
The previous matches tell a story of equally-matched opponents. There have been two wins apiece and two draws over 90 minutes since 2018, with Scotland taking the spoils of a goalless Euro play-off a year back on penalty kicks.
A solitary finals appearance for Israel at the 1970 World Cup belies the quality that manager Willi Ruttensteiner can call upon. They boast Eran Zahavi, the PSV Eindhoven striker who has a record 31 international goals, Hoffenheim’s Munas Dabbur and Manor Solomon, the Shakhtar Donetsk midfielder. Scotland are at least well versed in what they will face. ‘It feels like Scotland have played Israel about 10 times in the past couple of years,’ said Ferguson (left). ‘They are a really tough team. I think they are better than a lot of people think they are.
‘They are underrated. Their team is littered with good players and they are hard to break down.
‘There’s never much between the sides, it’s usually only a goal that separates the teams. Every game is really tight. But I think we’ve just got to go into it with a positive mindset.’