BarryLFC

@ Moldova

Steven Pressley was the sole withdrawal between the matches, with Aberdeen's Russel Anderson replacing him in the squad. Mark Brown's fumblitis in the previous game saw the slightly less nervous looking Jamie Langfield start in goals, and Christian Dailly came in for Barry Robson, with Mark Kerr stepping into the heart of the midfield.

Wyness' hot streak continued with the only goal of a tense first half, but he wasn't finished and added another 7 minutes after the break to entrench us in the driving seat. I introduced Ferguson, Foy and Murray with twenty minutes to go and the game all but won, which almost proved inspired as the former Rangers man teed up the Liverpool youngster to sting the palms of Gordienco in the Moldovan goal. The match ended 2-0 with Fletcher the clear star and the table could have looked a lot worse.

<pre class="ip-ubbcode-code-pre"> P Pts GDItaly 4 10 +7Norway 4 6 +1Scotland 3 6 +5Slovenia 4 5 -3Belarus 3 3 -2Moldova 4 1 -8</pre>

shannon2007

Decent enough so far, good chance of a play off.

BarryLFC

can't imagine we'll come close to Italy.

BarryLFC

Latvia

Friendly matches are a waste of time, so I promoted some kids to the full squad for the game against Latvia. The full squad was:

Craig Gordon (Hearts)
Jamie Langfield (Dunfermline)
David Marshall (Celtic)

Robbie Neilson (Sheffield Wednesday)
Gary Smith (Hibernian)
Russell Anderson (Aberdeen)
Andy Webster (Arsenal)
Steven Hammell (Sheffield Wednesday)
Gary Naysmith (Everton)
Christian Dailly (West Ham)
Ian Murray (Werder Bremen)

Mark Kerr (Dundee United)
Paul Hartley (Hearts)
Barry Ferguson (Blackburn)
Fergus Tiernan (Aberdeen)
Gary Teale (Wigan)
Stephen Pearson (Celtic)
Darren Fletcher (Manchester United)
Joe Hamill (Hearts)
Kevin Byers (Brechin City)
Paul Di Giacomo (Kilmarnock)

James McFadden (Everton)
Paul Dickov (Blackburn)
Paul Gallagher (Blackburn)
Robbie Winters (Brann Bergen)
Dennis Wyness (Hearts)

Wyness subsequently withdrew, so I opted to call up Dunfermline's Craig Brewster as a sort of "well done on a nice career" move and Robbie Winters picked up an injury, resulting in Wolves' Kenny Miller being drafted in at short notice.

Possibly Scotland's least experience starting XI in living memory took the field with an amassed nine caps between them, Jamie Langfield having debuted in Moldova, Robbie Neilson with two appearances, Russell Anderson three, Ian Murray a pair and one for Blackburn striker Paul Gallagher. Steven Hammell, Fergus Tiernan, Paul Hartley, Gary Teale, Kevin Byers and Craig Brewster debuted with uncapped Joe Hamill on the bench.

The perfect start transpired after five minutes as Byers teed up Paul Gallagher for a sensational drive to open the scoring, and the favour was returned fifteen minutes later as the Blackburn man laid the ball off for a long range screamer as the Brechin man became the first Second Division player to score for Scotland that I could remember.

The game was far from one-sided as the Baltic side created a series of openings, but a Brewster wonder-strike on the counter attack all but sealed the victory after 35 minutes. The veteran added another in the 45th minute and the experiment could be declared a success even by half time.

Hamill debuted in place of Teale after the break and Craig Gordon replaced Langfield in goal but we weren't slowed as Byers and Gallagher went close early in the second period. Craig Brewster completed his hat-trick after 75, at which stage I replaced him with James McFadden, potentially bringing an end to what statistics may record as one of the greatest international careers ever. Pearson came on for the sensational Byers at the same time as we looked to keep entertaining. A second goal for Gallagher made it six with ten minutes to go and the Latvians looked disspirited. McFadden rattled a post with time expiring, but the job was done. Scotland could believe again, at least until the New Year.

BarryLFC

Latvia, again

Lack of imagination lead to a second consecutive friendly with Latvia, again at Hampden, so I picked a near-identical squad, the fit-again Dennis Wyness the only addition with Joe Hamill dropping out due to injury.

Gary McDonald celebrated his move to Bayern Munchen with a recall when Darren Fletcher went down in training, before Barry Ferguson (surprise, surprise) withdrew and Derek Riordan of Hibs received the call. Paul Di Giacomo was next to pull out and I opted to bring Gary Caldwell back into the fray in his place. The phone calls were coming thick and fast now, and it was Wyness who was next to withdraw, leading to the first-ever selection of the SPL's form striker, Dundee United's James Grady. Mark Fotheringham replaced Kevin Byers as the injury problem reached epidemic levels and Phil McGuire came in for his Aberdeen teammate Russell Anderson. Eventually we arrived at matchday and fielded an XI with McGuire and Fotheringham starting in place of injured players and Teale giving way to McDonald. The team starting had fourteen caps prior to kickoff.

Seventy-two seconds in it was the Latvians who led as a corner was headed home, but if the fans thought we'd just shown up for a kick-about they were to be proved wrong. Craig Brewster's Indian Summer continued with a blistering long range drive to tie the scores before Fotheringham burst into the box for a stunning debut strike.

Riordan and Grady debuted in the second period in place of Gallagher and Brewster, but it was Latvia who rallied and a fabulous Langfield stop preceded a heart-stopping stramash in the six yard box before the ball was eventually cleared. Webster, Teale, Kerr and Smith were introduced late on but the final whistle denied Grady our third and the game ended as it stood at the half. It was a win and it was more experience, but the fans did not appreciate the disparity with our previous encounter one little bit.

shannon2007

Now I've seen it all, HD picks a Killie player :eek:

BarryLFC

There were four of them in my first squad!!

BarryLFC

Italy

This game was a foregone conclusion, so I picked the following squad based almost entirely on current form - if we were going to lose we may as well not give the media cause to point the finger at me for passing over this guy or that guy:

Goalies
Craig Gordon, Jamie Langfield, David Marshall

Defenders
Russell Anderson, Gary Caldwell, Steven Hammell, Phil McGuire, Ian Murray, Gary Naysmith, Robbie Neilson, Steven Pressley, Gary Smith

Midfielders
Barry Ferguson, Darren Fletcher, Mark Fotheringham, Stephen Glass, Stephen Hughes, Mark Kerr, Gary McDonald, Gary Teale, Fergus Tiernan

Forwards
Paul Gallagher, James Grady, James McFadden, Derek Riordan, Dennis Wyness

Withdrawals
Stephen Glass, Steven Pressley

Replacements
Paul Hartley, Andy Webster

As a result we went with a starting lineup that looked a lot like 4-4-2 with Gordon in goals, Smith, Anderson, Murray and Hammell across the back, Teale, Hughes, McDonald and Fotheringham in the midfield and McFadden partnering Wyness in attack.

Italy scored through Vieri early on and we knew the game was lost. We didn't have the ability to come back from a one goal deficit, so we fastened the safety belts and got set for a bumpy ride. Del Piero made it two midway through the first half and just when it looked like we might get a shot of the ball they took it off us again and Gordon had to race to the touchline to dispossess Delvecchio. It was two to nothing at the break.

Fletcher, Webster and Ferguson came on for Anderson, Fotheringham and Hughes at the break, and half an hour later Webster conceded a penalty which Gordon saved. The game ended 2-0 in a tumultuous anticlimax. Nobody was impressed, infact nobody said much at all, where an international would traditionally rake 5 pages in the papers this one took up two, no anti-manager rhetoric, no glorious triumph analysis. Nothing.

shannon2007

Bring back Berti

BarryLFC

Bahrain

A mindless decision to fly to Bahrain after the Italy game resulted in a lacklustre performance. The XI who finished the Italy game started and trailed 1-0 before Gary Teale was stretchered off to be replaced by Mark Kerr. A red card for James McFadden with just under half an hour to go seemed to kill off the fixture, as the tired and uninspired players simply went through the motions.

Derek Riordan should've levelled late on, but he failed to beat the keeper 1-on-1, the danger was cleared and the match was over. If you found somebody who cared he'd be the only one. For the record the final score was 2-0.