Scotland soar to rare height thanks to Dailly and Miller

Lithuania 1 - 2 Scotland
Miceika 85; Dailly 46, Miller 62

Ewan Murray at the St Dariaus and St Gireno Stadium
Thursday September 7, 2006
The Guardian

Scotland's relative revival is unlikely to prompt widespread fear among the powers of world football but the manager Walter Smith and his players have genuine cause to celebrate this morning after winning the first two qualification games for Euro 2008.

This victory, which followed the rout of Faroe Islands, means the Scots are pacesetters in Group B, second-half goals from Christian Dailly and Kenny Miller enough to ensure that Smith has already overseen an upturn - widely thought unlikely -from the dark days of the Berti Vogts era. "We've got a spirit and belief now," said Smith, whose team have avoided defeat in their past seven away matches. "I'm hoping that we are beginning to be respected for what we are doing. This win was achieved thanks to a lot of hard work."

Scotland had aired strong reservations about the state of the Kaunas pitch and Uefa's delegate, the Englishman Alan Hutchings, warned Lithuania's FA to improve the conditions. Smith later described the surface as "100 times better than 24 hours earlier" but the lack of grass in each goalmouth meant a treacherous 90 minutes for the goalkeepers.

The soulless arena, a rare relic from Lithuania's days as a Soviet republic, will never be pretty but it is just the sort of place where Scotland must win if their recovery is to continue. But there was a troublesome opening for them, with Gary Naysmith forced to clear a Tomas Zvirgzdauskas shot off the line within two minutes. Scotland's immediate reply came with a Nigel Quashie drive from 18 yards which was acrobatically turned away by Zydrunas Karcemarskas.

Scotland lost McFadden with a hamstring pull through midway through the first half but by then the team, and particularly the lively Miller, were often troubling Lithuania, although the home side were dangerous on the counter.

David Weir, the Everton defender winning his 50th cap, marshalled his defence with aplomb but Smith's team appeared susceptible to Lithuania's breaks from midfield, a situation exacerbated in the 44th minute by the enforced loss of Quashie, who suffered a dead leg.

Miller's subsequent harsh booking for dangerous play means he will be absent from the team who take on France at Hampden next month, but it was his bursting run and shot a minute after the interval which brought about the corner from which Naysmith crossed for the onrushing Dailly. The West Ham defender's powerful header from eight yards was his sixth goal in 63 games and led to scenes of euphoria among the 4,000 travelling fans.

Robertas Poskus soon blazed over from close range as Lithuania mounted an onslaught on Craig Gordon's goal, and the wastefulness came back to haunt them when Miller blasted a half-volley into the net, again from a Naysmith pass, to give Scotland valuable breathing space.

Lithuania's reply came in spectacular fashion from the substitute Darius Miceika, whose overhead kick with five minutes remaining ensured a nervous finish for the Scots. Further, frantic waves of home attacks followed but Scotland held firm, proof if needed that basic resilience continues to play a key part in Smith's revival of the team.

Lithuania (4-2-3-1)

Karcemarskas; Stankevicius, Skerla, Zvirgzdauskas ·, Dziaukstas; Savenas (Tamasauskas, 50), Preiksaitis · (Miceika, 81); Kalonas, Poskus ·, Mikoliunas (Labukas, 66); Danilevicius.

Subs not used Malinauskas, Paulauskas, Zelmikas, Kavaliauskas.

Scotland (3-5-2) Gordon; Weir, Pressley, Caldwell · ; Dailly ·, Fletcher, Hartley (Severin, 87), Quashie (Boyd, 44), Naysmith; McFadden (G Alexander, 22), Miller ·.

Subs not used N Alexander, Anderson, Neilson, Teale.

Referee V Hrinak (Slovakia).

Taken from the Guardian/Observer