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Brown's gamble on going with his starters in the friendly paid off and he was able to go with an unchanged lineup against the Germans. A dramatic opening period saw Kenny Miller hit the post before Matthias Weiss gave the visitors an advantage that would last until half time.

Sadly the match progressed in an eerily similar manner to the Cameroon game, with Scotland pressing for the duration of the second half and no goals coming. Frustration spilled over late on as Riordan shoved an opponent and picked up a red card as the final whistle blew.

Promising though was Spain's failure to beat Russia in Madrid. With Germany looking strong, this group was all going to be about second place and Brown's men were determined to be a part of that equation, whatever it took.

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With John Kennedy injured, Christian Dailly stepped in to the starting XI in darkest coldest Russia and saw his side fall 2-0 behind despite dominating the opening half hour. Andy Brown's halftime team talks are far from legendary, but had resulted in improved performances for the past two matches. This time it would take something monumental to make a difference.

A fluke goal from substitute Shaun Maloney with ten minutes to play seemed to have set up a rousing finale, but Scotland could not produce even another shot on goal and thoughts of qualification slipped sharply after defeats in both of the key opening fixtures.

David Clarkson replaced an injured Nigel Quashie in the squad for the game against Latvia at Hampden. Suspension ruled out Andy Webster and James McFadden, whilst Iain Turner replaced Craig Gordon in goal. Shaun Maloney and fit-again John Kennedy replaced the suspended players for a game Brown's side simply had to win.

It was Maloney who fired an eighteenth minute opener, cementing his position as the only Scot to score in the qualifiers, before Verpakovskis came within inches of levelling. The second half ought to have been calmer, but with Kenny Miller obviously rusty from sitting on the Rangers bench many chances went begging before Darren Fletcher's 25-yard bullet sealed the game twenty minutes from the end.

With Russia losing in Germany the group, Deutschland apart, was looking as tight as expected. Scotland needed to take 6 points from Latvia, Northern Ireland and Luxembourg and do their best in Spain if their home games against the Spaniards and Russians were to count for anything. Andy Brown had a masterplan, but it all banked on Spain having peaked at the World Cup, and a 5-0 win over Luxembourg cast that into doubt.

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Injuries forced a few changes to be made to the squad, with Gavin Rae, Martyn Corrigan and Lee Wilkie replacing Kevin McNaughton, Christian Dailly and Scott Brown, but mostly it was the same solid bunch of lads who got together to prepare to face Luxembourg away and Northern Ireland at Hampden.

It was a familiar side that took the field in the end, Webster and Kennedy reunited in the centre of defence, the usual suspects at full-back and in the midfield, though Richard Hughes replaced the suspended Ian Murray in the holding role, and McFadden, Miller and Maloney up front.

There didn't seem to be any chance of a shock as Shaum Maloney took all of 45 seconds to fire Brown's side ahead, but a couple of scares followed before Kenny Miller doubled the advantage. There was no further scoring, but an away win is an away win and thoughts turned to Northern Ireland's visit almost immediately.

Ian Murray replaced Richard Hughes for the big game. Normally a side of Northern Ireland's calibre could be dismissed, but the proximity of the nations presented a serious banana skin. A goalless first half did little to dispell Scottish fears, and as Roy Carroll repelled effort after effort the fight was lost. The points were shared and qualification would now be an uphill battle.

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A meaningless friendly in Cairo was the only fixture on the calendar for the first three months of 2007, so with trips to Spain, Latvia and Germany coming up Brown took the opportunity to let his fringe players come together a bit more.

Reports in the week leading up to the game linked Brown heavily with the soon-to-be-vacant position as manager of Kilmarnock. The smart thing to do was not comment, so he didn't. That was smart.

Derek Riodan's first international goal gave Brown's side a second half lead they never looked like relinquishing. It was such a good performance, in fact, that many of those involved had done their chances of playing in Spain a world of good. Perhaps the spark Brown had been waiting for was in the squad all along.

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Injuries saw Paul Gallacher, Steven Hammell, Kevin McNaughton, Kevin Kyle and Charlie Adam drafted in to the squad, though the lazy Scots media, as ever, reported that the 26 was unchanged. It seems they just don't care any more.

Spain were a daunting proposition for Brown and his side, but he went with the XI who defeated Egypt and hoped for the best. After all, what's the worst that could happen?

Actually, it wasn't quite the XI that beat Egypt, Martyn Corrigan came in at right back due to injuries, so it was X. Spain scored an early goal, but the game was less one sided than you might have anticipated until Fernando Torres scored twice just before half time.

Trailing by three at the interval Brown told his side that nothing less than a win was acceptable. Most laughed. How about we score a goal and call it quits? More laughter. Nothing like respect.

The game ended 3-0 and qualification was no longer a possibility. All that remained was to qin as much as possible and shore up that seeding, hope for a better group for the World Cup and perhaps cry a wee bit.

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Brown went back to basics for the game in Latvia, selecting Gordon, McNamara, Naysmith, Kennedy, Webster, Murray, Ferguson, Fletcher, Miller, Riordan and McFadden from the usual suspects. Victory in this game was a must if the Scots were to edge away from Latvia and Northern Ireland in the bottom half, but after a tough encounter at Hampden it wasn't going to be easy.

Indeed it was the home side who scored first, netting a fourth minute penalty, before play swung in Scotland's favour. Before anyone knew, however, another penalty was awarded, the score was 2-0 and things looked decidedly shaky for Brown's continued tenure as boss.

Derek Roirdan pounced on a slack backpass to pull one back before the interval and seconds later equalised as Miller broke free on the right and teed him up perfectly. If Scots around the world felt the danger was over they probably haven't seen a lot of Scotland games. Latvia struck again and led 3-2 at the break.

Quashie and McNaughton replaced Murray and McNamara at the interval, but it was Riordan who scored again with fifteen minutes of play remaining. Andy Webster was sent off for a second booking three minutes later and James McFadden was sacrificed for Christian Dailly. Depite being down to ten men, Brown told his players to go get a winner, and they did, Kenny Miller coming up with the goosd i the last of four added minutes.

After the game a breathless Brown was all smiles, and the press fury seemed assuaged. Despite Riordan's hattrick, it was Kenny Miller who won the plaudits. Slightly harsh, but who cares, Scotland won! 4-3, 4-3, 4-3, 4-3. The most famousest of matches.

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When Andy Brown's close friend Joél Garçon was surprisingly appointed Rangers manager in X 2006 on the eve of a vital Old Firm match it was one of the biggest shocks in recent Scottish football history. Despite holding a lead atop the SPL and continuing in the Scottish Cup, Alex McLeish was not considered to be doing a sufficiently competent job and the veteran Luxembourger was appointed in his place.

Despite being in the midst of a Championship run-in and knowing the support doubted him, Garçon embarked on an immediate restructuring of the squad, cutting loose veteran players who he felt weren't up to the task and promoting youngsters.

That initial Old Firm encounter ended 1-1, thanks largely to some poor Celtic finishing, but Garçon went on to clinch the title and win the Cup that year playing the likes of Roberto Giacomi, Robert Davidson and Lee Wallace week-in, week-out.

In the summer he was able to add talented players on free transfers, the most notable being Bosko Balaban, Jimmy Floyd Hasselbaink, Lamine Diatta, Mario Eggiman and Hervé Nzelo Lembi. With Vyacheslav Hleb in place to build around there was a lot of promise.

The problem position was proving to be goalkeeper. Garçon had intended to start Allan McGregor on his return from loan, but the youngster rejected a new contract and left the club. That meant money was spent on Everton's Iain Turner to fill the gap.

It was a good year, but not as successful as the last. Celtic were in great form and despite losing just one Old Firm game, and three total league games, Rangers finished four points behind their rivals in the SPL. There was a Scottish Cup win to savour along with a solid Champions League performance which saw wins over Panathinaikos, Juventus and Sporting Lisbon (twice), with only two injury time goals preventing a second triumph over the Italian giants. The group was won, but two red cards in the opening half hour of their last 16 game saw a 5-1 first leg defecit open up against PSV that was too much to recover from. The home game was won 3-1, but the tie was gone.

With both Hleb and Balaban hitting 30 goals it was a good year of attacking football. Even Jimmy Floyd Hasselbaink chipped in, netting 17 times. The youth movement continued as 16 year olds Scott Black and Paul O'Neill established themselves as first choices and the summer addition of James McFadden and Didier Drogba could now push the side over the top.

Why this becomes relevant now is simple - following the win in Latvia there was a shout for Brown to get a chance domestically. With Dundee United desperate for a revival they turned to Andy and he wasn't about to pass up this chance. Head-to-head with his buddy and day-to-day involvement, it was the right move at the right time. The new year seemed set to be one for the ages.

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X = March, forgot to go back and sort that :o

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It had been 530 minutes since Dundee United last conceded a goal - Macjec Zuawski scoring in the tenth minute of Celtic's 1-0 win. Since then Flora of Tallin had been defeated 2-0 at Tannadice and 1-0 in Estonia whilst Hearts, Kilmarnock and Motherwell were defeated by two, four and two goals respectively. These results, along with an opening day 3-1 win at Inverness where Lee Miller helped himself to a hat-trick, had led to second place, just a point behind Garçon's unbeated Rangers side, after five fixtures and a First Round UEFA Cup tie with Galatasaray in the offing.

In the meantime Brown prepared his national squad for the trip to Germany, reflecting on the panel's decision to award him second place - behind Garçon - in August's manager of the month prize. At least Dundee United players had won first and second place in the players' category.

With Webster suspended and McFadden injured it was a slightly altered line up that took the field. Iain Turner replaced Craig Gordon in goal, Christian Dailly took up his station at the back and Shaun Maloney started in attack. Ironically (if you take the tabloid press definition of irony) Jackie McNamara started at right back, whilst simultaneously failing to get a game for Brown's Dundee United team due to the form of fellow Scot Mark Wilson.

Derek Riordan's fifth minute goal stunned the hosts, but they took just six more to level the game through Kaufmann. Kenny Miller remarkably restored the lead with his tenth international goal two minutes later and the goal frenzy was over for the time being. A dubious offside flag denied Miller before the break and some great goalkeeping from Paul Martin in the Germany goal kept it at 2-1.

Despite his goal, Miller was playing poorly and debutant Andy Bagshaw of Tottenham replaced him at the interval. Some very unsporting time wasting tactics ensued and Scotland had a famous win. The momentum was now firmly in Brown's side's favour and all eyes were back on qualification.

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Andy Webster checked back in for Christian Dailly for the Russia game, but the side was otherwise unchanged from those who triumphed in Germany. A tight first half produced no goals, but Brown did lose Derek Riordan to injury, throwing young David Clarkson on in his place.

When Darren Fletcher was also injured in the second half it was Rangers' Charlie Adam who came on to make his debut. The play was slightly in Scotland's favour, but with time ticking away a goalless draw seemed inevitable. Ultimately so it proved, and any last hopes of catching the Russians probably dissipated with the final whistle. Three games remained, with Luxembourg and Spain to visit Hampden and a trip to Windsor Park in the offing. Seven points would be a nice haul, and the campaign could be written off to experience. Fingers crossed.