Scotland expects
The nation expects victory against Moldova, maybe this is how far we have came after all it was only 12 months ago we would be worried about games like this but not now. Now we are upto 37th place in the latest FIFA rankings but then we all know how messed up they are. Now we expect to win however is this too much pressure on Toner to succeed? too much pressure on Scotland to succeed? are we simply overlooking our frailties of which they are many. With certain sections of the fans expecting an easy victory, Toner will know that even though Moldova are the weaker side on paper, they still have the ability to pose a threat to Scotland's backline problem if they aren't treated with respect.
Scotland will be without young duo Derek Riordan and David Clarkson for this game and i know that dissappoints the manager who was heard mumbling something along the lines of "when will i ever get a full strenght squad" Andy Gray was drafted in, in the only change.
4th June 2005 - Hampden Park - Scotland v Moldova Scotland line up ;Gordan, Naysmith, McEveley, Murray, Hutton, Hamill, Ferguson, Fletcher, Pearson, McFadden, Gallagher.
The first half started well i wouldn't say we dominated but we took our chances when they came along, we had 2 good chances to go ahead within the first 10 minutes but due to poor judgement from James McFadden the scoreline stayed blank well that was until the 12th minute when a lovely one two between McFadden and Fletcher opened up the defence to allow Paul Gallagher in and the young blackburn man didn't think twice as he put Scotland ahead 1-0. Moldova tried to find a way back into the game but they didn't cause the back two any problems. Stephen Pearson added a 2nd for Scotland on the 19th minute when he cooly lobbed the goalkeeper to make it 2-0. The rest of the half pretty much pettered out with none of the teams making much head way as Scotland looked comfortable in possesion.
The 2nd half wasn't much of a contest infact the only thing of note was the third and final goal when Man of the Match Stephen Pearson who got to the touchline and crossed a perfectly placed ball onto the head of James McFadden 3-0. The game could have been even more one sided when late on Joe Hamill was fouled in the box but subsitute Dougie Freedman couldn't convert.
FT - Scotland 3 - 0 Moldova Group 5
<pre class="ip-ubbcode-code-pre">Italy 6 5 0 1 11 1 +10 15Scotland 5 4 0 1 12 3 +9 12Slovenia 6 4 0 2 11 8 +3 12Norway 6 3 0 3 7 9 -1 9Belarus 5 1 0 4 7 12 -5 3Moldova 6 0 0 6 3 19 -16 0 </pre>
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