Victory by the finest margin is just reward for manager’s roll of the dice
Strachan was probably two minutes away from the sack . . . instead it’s game on against the Auld Enemy
THIS was an occasion when there was so much more at stake than simply preserving Scotland’s already slender chances of qualifying for next summer’s World Cup Finals.
On a Sunday night against Slovenia in front of a half-full Hampden, the manager’s future was on the line, too. Perhaps fortunate to be still in the post following successive three-goal defeats to Slovakia and England at the end of last year, Gordon Strachan knew as much, too.
When your chief executive describes a match as “must-win” as Stewart Regan did earlier in the week, then there can be little ambiguity about the outcome should the manager fail to realise that ambition. Strachan, usually a verbally dexterous man, had conceded as much, too. There was a general accord, then, about the significance of the match and the ramifications for both team and manager were it not to conclude with Scotland having recorded their second win of the campaign.
Having managed it – just – Strachan can afford to breathe slightly easier once again. His employers at the Scottish Football Association have similarly now been spared an awkward few days pondering the future of the manager and whether to implement a change. With one late swipe of substitute Chris Martin’s boot, Strachan’s future changed immeasurably. A springtime spent working exclusively on reducing his golf handicap will now be spent preparing for the visit of England to Hampden in June. It was the finest of margins.
It is perhaps one of the greatest occupational hazards of football management that careers can be made or ended by the genius or fallibility of the players they employ.
For all coaches can train the players, fill them with tactical instruction, and offer encouragement and advice, they bear as much influence as the supporters in the stand when chances arise and players either take them or miss.
On this occasion, Strachan may have been starting to wonder whether he and Scotland were going to come to regret Leigh Griffiths shooting against the crossbar and then the post in the space of a frantic first-half minute. Instead, Martin’s late intervention means any agonising over what might have been can now be shelved.
Perhaps with the knowledge that this may be the last Scotland team he ever named, Strachan had rolled the dice with his line-up. All six Celtic players in the squad were in, including Griffiths in attack for his first start since December. Strachan has not always come across as someone in tune with the opinions of the man in the street – quite the opposite in fact – but, in starting Griffiths over Martin, Jordan Rhodes or Steven Fletcher, he had given the public what they had been asking for, even if a first international goal again eluded the Celtic striker.
Strachan had also gambled with his defence, deciding the solution to the problem of having no natural right-back was to ask Kieran Tierney to switch from his preferred station on the left. Again, it was a big call, given Tierney hadn’t played there since he was 15 but, again, there were few grumbling given his stellar form for his club this season.
The move saw Tierney forever cutting on to his stronger left foot rather than simply haring right down the line as he does for Celtic but, both defensively and in attack, the player more than justified his place.
The other notable selection decision was to hand a first Scotland cap to Stuart Armstrong. Again, it was a move that chimed with populist feeling given the forward’s impressive displays for his club, the player rounding off a solid debut with an assist for the winning goal and a deserved man-of-the-match award to boot.
Having named his team, Strachan was largely at the mercy of his players as he took his seat in the raised Hampden dug-out next to his assistant Mark McGhee, dug out a pad and proceeded to scribble down copious notes. There he sat for the opening 15 minutes as Scotland made a positive start – Russell Martin had a “goal”