Don’t blame Marsh, says Kenny – beat England AND then go through

Sir Kenny Dalglish does not expect to see a return of old jokes about Scottish goalkeepers after David Marshall's Hampden blunder.

The former Liverpool great hushed years of sly digs about the standard of Scottish number ones when he fired through the legs of England keeper and Anfield teammate Ray Clemence back in 1976.

But there have been plenty of sniggers heard from south of the border since the Scots' current shot-stopper Marshall was left in a tangle after being lobbed from 50 yards out by Czech Republic forward Patrik Schick in Monday's damaging 2-0 defeat.

Dalglish, however, reckons the incident will not be viewed as a laughing matter by Gareth Southgate's England team – who host the Scots at Wembley tonight - as he hailed Schick's outrageous piece of skill.

Dalglish, speaking as a McDonald’s Fun Football ambassador, said: “I don't think you point the finger too much at Marsh.

“It would be remiss of anybody not to applaud the ability of the guy to hit it from almost 50 yards with a huge bend on it to make it even harder for the keeper.

“It's not as if he's hit it straight over his head. He's set it out with a huge draw on it as they say in golf. It's some awareness and a great delivery as well.

“The (English) can wind anybody up. That's what they will do beforehand. I don't think nowadays they will go into it the same way as they did before.

“Before it was taken for granted that there would be a bit of back and forth with the words, a wee bit of a laugh and a joke and some tonguein-cheek criticism.

“I don't think they do it any more, it's not in the remit for the players nowadays.”

Scotland need at least a point in London to keep realistic hopes of the knockout stages alive.

But Dalglish reckons Steve Clarke's squad have already earned the right to be regarded as national heroes after ending the country's 23-year wait to reach a major finals.

"I think they've got legendary status just qualifying,” he said. “Beating England at Wembley would be memorable as well, but there's no point beating them if you don't go through. Everything doesn't depend on the England result. We have a game afterwards.

"You've got to get it into perspective.”