Marshall handed Rooney chance to switch allegiance

DAVID MARSHALL captured a place in Scottish football folklore with the magic hand that secured the nation’s first major tournament qualification in decades.

It turns out that historic penalty save wasn’t even his first miracle of the day.

The water-into-wine routine may have peaked with the strong-arm stop that kept out Serbia’s Aleksandar Mitrovic in Belgrade but the goalkeeper had already pulled off the unlikely feat of persuading England’s all-time leading goalscorer to shun his beloved Three Lions for the night.

Wayne Rooney is, of course, now Marshall’s club manager at Derby County and couldn’t resist tuning in to see one of his key players operating in the heat of a winnertakes-all Euro 2020 qualifier. Even if it meant blanking the England game on the other channel.

‘Wayne told me that the Serbia game was the only time he’s ever switched over and watched Scotland before England,’ says Marshall.

‘We’ve not spoken about Wembley in June yet but I am sure that will come. We have some work to do at Derby to finish off our season and then I am sure there will be a bit of banter come that time.’

There’s also work to be done in a Scotland context before attention turns to the Euros and that Auld Enemies’ clash in London.

Tonight, Marshall (right) will earn his 43rd cap in the second of the qualifiers for the 2022 World Cup in Qatar. Although there’s scant chance of either Craig Gordon or Jon McLaughlin ousting him as Clarke’s No1 before the summer, he admits he will need club game time to be at his sharpest come the summer.

A spell out with a back injury allowed Kelle Roos take over in goal for Derby, with Marshall, 36, returning to the bench earlier this month. ‘It’s been a bit of stop-start season,’ he admits. ‘I had a virus in January and then a niggly injury.

‘I trained a full week before I came here and feel good now. We have eight games left when I go back and there’s a bit of a break between the Championship season and the Euros.

‘So, hopefully, I can get some games between now and then. Wayne has been great. It’s been difficult for him.

‘We’ve been in transition. The ownership stuff broke down in January and Philip Cocu left as manager mid-season while Wayne was still playing.

‘We had a really good start when he came in but just in the last six or seven games we’ve had a few injuries and it has culminated in a drop in form.

‘It’s Wayne’s first role and he’s growing into it. He’s been great with the young academy players and given them a lot of chances.

‘As a player, he was a winner and really aggressive, and that’s the way he likes his teams to play. We’re very much front foot and worry about ourselves rather than the opposition.’

This past week, Scotland boss Clarke has been trying to instil a similar mindset into his players.

Although qualification has enhanced the mood, Thursday’s 2-2 draw with Austria still bore hallmarks of a team that doesn’t full believe in itself. Good enough to react to each of the Austrians two goals on the night but not yet ready to believe they should be the side setting the agenda.

Afterwards, Clarke admitted his team needed to believe in itself more, while Scott McTominay, the side’s best player on the night and a stand-out for Manchester United, insisted more arrogance was required. ‘I can’t argue with that,’ adds Marshall. ‘Scott’s at a top club, so he carries a bit of that. ‘We’ve had relative success in qualifying, so it’s something we could show a bit more. The other night, the goals changed the game and if we get the first, it gives us confidence. ‘It took us a while to get to grips with the game and if we’d started with a bit more confidence, as Scotty said, it would probably stand us in good stead.’

With top seeds Denmark winning in Tel Aviv on Thursday, Israel boss Willi Ruttensteiner has declared tonight is a must-win match for his side.

Marshall feels a similar imperative. ‘We go to win the game,’ he says. ‘We know Israel really well and every game against them has been tight.

‘We know them inside out, all their strengths and weaknesses, and we now need to carry that belief in ourselves.’