Gray can see shades of '76 in 6-0 win

THE debate whether teams as poor as Andorra and the Faroe Islands should be allowed to clutter up the international calendar has been a popularly addressed one over the weekend. Perhaps it was most urgently prompted by England's romp against the Andorrans, but even some Scots rather cruelly got in on the act, labelling it an affront to have been on the same pitch as patent inferiors.

This claim would not necessarily find favour with Andy Gray, the Sky Sports commentator and former Scotland striker. It was in one of these so-called minor internationals that he launched an international career with two goals on what was the last occasion Scotland scored six without reply.

That was 30 years ago this week and, while Finland have spent those decades bolstering their reputation, back then a side that included Mixu Paatelainen's father Matti were crushed at Hampden in a manner that met with little surprise. Scotland could after all count on players of the calibre of Kenny Dalglish, Archie Gemmill and Eddie Gray.

"Finland weren't much of a side back then, in fact none of the Scandinavian teams from that era was," remembered Eddie Gray, the former Leeds United winger who also scored in the friendly encounter. "In a game like that it can be difficult because once you get the first couple of early goals the expectation is you might get 10 or 12. It rarely works like that of course. But these kind of internationals are a good way to get yourself accustomed to international football, and being suddenly pitched in with a new set of team-mates."

The scoring pattern against Finland was remarkably similar to that displayed by Scotland on Saturday. Willie Ormond's side were three up inside 23 minutes, and although another goal was added before half-time only two more were sourced after the interval. Andy Gray scored a minute before half-time and again in the 80th minute. It seemed to have set him on the way to the World Cup in 1978, but an off-the-ball dust up in the opening qualifier against Czechoslovakia the following month landed him a three-match ban, ruling him out of the remaining group games. "It was the impetuousness of youth," he says now. "I made a mistake and was punished for it heavily."

He didn't make the World Cup squad, controversially left out in a time of bewildering choice for Scotland. In fact, he only played six times for Scotland in the 70s despite making his debut in 1975. No wonder he looks back on the Finland experience with fondness, and he advises a player like Garry O'Connor to cherish each Scotland goal. The Russia-based striker came on to score Scotland's sixth against the Faroes, though barely acknowledged it.

"It was a big game for me even if the opponents were not at the time deemed in any way glamorous," he says. "I had played two games for Scotland, and hadn't scored so was beginning to get a bit worried. To get two goals in what was a good 6-0 victory made it quite an evening, and I didn't care who it was against.

"I watched the Faroese game on Saturday, and for us it was the same against Finland," he continued. "They weren't a great team but you still had to work hard to beat them, although you always suspected you might get the chance to score, just as I am sure Kris Boyd and Kenny Miller did on Saturday."

Gray snapped up his chances with aplomb, and later that season won both the PFA player and young player of the year awards in England with Aston Villa. But his Scotland career was disrupted by the three-game ban and then a change in management saw Ormond replaced by Ally MacLeod. "I gave myself the opportunity to kick on," he said of his brace. "But it was not to be."

He hopes Boyd has applied momentum to his own career with his two strikes, and commended the Rangers player for the runs made and the chances taken. "I know it was only the Faroes," said Andy Gray. "But we have had problems with them in the past. Now we have to concentrate on the Lithuania game. I feel the big guns will cut each other's necks, and hopefully we can exploit that."

Taken from the Scotsman