The Courier & Advertiser (Perth and Perthshire Edition)
Strachan calm amid Hampden hullabaloo
Scotland boss enjoys ‘sweet moment’ as he hails debutant Armstrong and under-fire striker
Scotland manager Gordon Strachan insisted he kept calm and carried on as his job hung by a thread at Hampden last night.
Anything short of a victory over Slovenia and it would have been all over for Strachan and curtains for the team’s World Cup hopes as well.
However, a dramatic winner two minutes from time by substitute Chris Martin, who had been booed on to the park by his own fans, secured a welldeserved win for Strachan’s men.
It moved them into fourth in Group F ahead of Lithuania, who lost at Wembley, but still behind leaders England, Slovakia and the Slovenians.
Interestingly, though, the gap between them and the Slovaks in second spot is down to two points.
The odds are still against the Scots being on the road to Russia next summer but at least this gives them hope and confidence going into the June 10 home clash against the English.
Strachan said: “I am quite calm now and I was calm during the game.
“I think you get a bit emotional when things are not going well with the team but I couldn’t complain about that tonight. All you can ask as a manager is that they go out and do certain things and they did everything they were asked.
“Indeed, they pushed themselves to another level. I knew whatever would be would be but I was enjoying the performance as a manager as well.
“Considering we were giving away height and strength they had to be at their best. For them to have to deal with not being up at half-time could have been a problem but it wasn’t. We overcame that and came at them again.”
After Leigh Griffiths had hit the woodwork twice and Russell Martin had a goal chalked off, it was heading for another hard-luck story until the other Martin scored.
Strachan said: “It could have been that but whatever happened I was proud of what they were doing. I think everybody knows we deserved to win that game.
“It was a sweet moment for everyone who wanted to enjoy the victory with us.
“That was for them. This was a big game but we knew how big it was. We weren’t hiding behind an invisible cloak. “We told the truth and dealt with it. “Anybody who was here tonight will go away feeling good about themselves. “So I hope they all enjoyed it. “The points were the most important thing but the performance helps as well.
“I think they have a feeling that they can go and match quite a few international teams now. “It was a proud performance from us.” Strachan had reassuring words for scorer Martin, who was jeered as he came on.
The manager said: “Kenny Dalglish used to get booed, as did Alan Hansen and Gary McAllister. That’s a great club to be in that one!”
“If you can line up with them, that’s fantastic. The starting point for him was when he made his debut. He understands what he brings to a team, but some people can’t see it which is understandable.
And he had high praise for former Dundee United man Stuart Armstrong, who starred for the Scots on his first appearance and played in Martin for the winner.
Strachan declared: “That was the best Scottish debut I have ever seen.”
Goal hero Martin was delighted to repay Strachan’s faith after hitting the late winner.
“I was only made aware of it after the game,” he said.
“I didn’t know there was a tough reception when I came on, I was just focused on trying to help the boys out and trying to get a goal that we deserved during the game.
“I don’t really pay too much attention to that, I was just delighted for the lads and for the manager as well.
“He has shown faith in me throughout the last couple of campaigns so I am delighted to repay the faith and get some reward for the hard work we put in tonight and throughout this campaign so far.”
Strachan’s job was on the line but victory has taken Scotland two points off second place in Group F.
And Martin did his best to ignore the speculation over his manager’s future.
“I don’t really pay too much attention to that, obviously that’s the media side and you’ve got to have a focus as a player on your own job and what you have to do,” he said.
“But we knew as players it was a mustwin and we are just delighted to get over the line. And obviously it makes it sweeter for myself that I was the one to get the winner.
“I think you saw with the celebration, there were a few emotions in there, but mainly just delighted for the lads and the work we put in. I think we deserved to win the game.”
Slovenia boss Srecko Katanec admitted Scotland deserved to win, but was “not surprised “by the standard of the home side’s performance.
He said: “We didn’t show what we intended to show. We are not looking for alibis. We played under expectations.
“We weren’t confident or aggressive and we didn’t have a player who would take the ball. But I am responsible for the result.”