Scotland 6 American Samoa 0

Report by Alasdair Dewar

“Not much of a game of it I’m afraid, Archie, as Scotland dominated throughout apart from a short spell when Samoa forced two corners in succession and Jonathan Gould saw the ball crash back off his own crossbar from the head of Tom Boyd. First-half goals from Colin Hendry and two from Matt Elliot – all following set-pieces – had put Scotland in the driving seat and on the stroke of half-time Billy Dodds converted a penalty after Hutchison had prompted a reckless tackle from Fletcher Christian XIV in the Samoan goal.

“Craig Brown rang the changes during the interval, withdrawing McCann and Hutchison and bringing on Lambert and John O’Neill to steady the midfield, and apart from the short period when Samoa threatened to come back into the game, Scotland enjoyed the bulk of possession and it was no surprise when with seven minutes left Alan Johnston, playing his first competitive game of football for two years, came off the bench and squeezed a shot in off the near post after good work by Dodds. The night was made complete in injury time when the tireless Dodds latched onto a mis-hit pass from Lambert and slammed in his second and Scotland’s sixth.”

“I was pleased with our attitude,” Craig Brown said afterwards. “I thought we were solid and never really looked in danger. There’s no such thing as an easy game in international football, and we went about our business in a professional manner. I think we should also give credit to American Samoa, who certainly made it difficult for us. We’ve come away with the points, and we’ve got to be pleased with that.”