GEORGIA ON THEIR MINDS

THERE are still five months to go but already Scotland's next 90 minutes of Group B business looms large on the horizon.

By the time the final whistle has sounded on our Hampden clash with Georgia in March we will know for sure if we are genuine contenders or destined for another dose of painful reality.

Three consecutive wins against the Faroes, Lithuania and France allowed us all to escape into the realms of fantasty for a while and to forget about the limitations of Walter Smith's squad.

We may have a manager who is working wonders and a group of players willing to run themselves into the ground for the cause, but even so the cold truth is we knew from the start that some kind of miracle would be required to end our years in football's wilderness.

Wednesday night's 2-0 defeat to Ukraine in Kiev has brought it all rushing back home like a whiff of smelling salts.

We're back in the real world again and the picture is becoming more clear. The French have pulled level again on nine points at the top of this wretched section while the Italians have moved up menacingly to seven points after back-to-back wins against Ukraine and Georgia.

With Ukraine - who have a game in hand - now just one point further adrift, Group B is taking shape and the big three are swarming all over Smith and his team.

Next up it is our turn to face the Georgians and anything less than three points from that match is likely to signal the end of our hopes of making it to Austria and Switzerland.

It is comforting to know, then, that already the manager and his men appear to appreciate the enormous significance of their next confrontation.

Win it and we're still in there swinging. Anything less and the big boys are likely to knock us out cold.

Even before he had boarded the flight home from Kiev in the small hours of yesterday morning, Paul Hartley was already raring to go.

He said: "To lose here is obviously disappionting but we're still in there fighting. I think before we played these games against France and Ukraine we would all have settled for two points - one from each match. So we shouldn't be too disappointed.

"It's still been a great start to take nine points from four games. We now have a five-month break before our next game against Georgia and that one is going to be massive for us.

"I think we have the measure of anyone in the section and we proved that against France on Saturday.

"We knew it was going to be tough in Kiev but, like I say, we'd have taken nine points from our opening four games and it just means Georgia at Hampden is now going to be so important."

The truth is we cannot hope to survive at the cut-throat end of this table unless we remain ruthless against its less talented teams, so already Smith knows we are looking at a make-or-break fixture.

Which is why the manager found it difficult to hide his anger at the Olympic Stadium the other night after watching a buffoon of a Swedish referee do greater damage to Scotland than even Andriy Shevchenko could manage.

Even though our defenders found it almost impossible to prevent Chelsea's star striker from wreaking havoc, it was arguably the abject Martin Hansson who caused most damage.

The ramifications of Hansson's handiwork will certainly have a longer lasting impact. Because of his oafish and unbalanced decision making, Scotland will be without three key players for the visit of Shota Arveladze and his countrymen.

Steven Pressley was outstanding in defence against Ukraine and France but even though the Hearts captain has become a rock in Smith's team the manager is not short of cover in that area.

However, the loss of Fletcher and McFadden will be far more problematic.

After all, Smith must design a team to face Georgia which is far more attack-minded than the sides that were sent out to frustrate and nullify the French and the Ukrainians.

It will be Scotland's turn to go back on the offensive in March but we will have to do so without the two individuals who add genuine creativity and threat to all Smith's solid organisation.

Much then will depend on Hartley, who is also capable of adding a cutting edge with his running from deep, and Smith will hope that this player comes to no harm between now and then.

But Hartley believes there are others who can step in - possibly players like Shaun Maloney and Chris Burke - and provide something special.

He said: "As a result of the ref's decisions we will now be without Steven, Faddy and Fletch for our next game, which is a big blow.

"But we have players in the squad who are capable of coming in and doing a good job. We are obviously going to miss our key players but there are other guys who have been on the bench and this will give them their chance to come in and show what they can do.

"Faddy, Fletch and Steven have all been regular players so that means that, over the next few months, there are places up for grabs."

But no matter which players put themselves forward between now and the next match, Smith might find it difficult not to curse the official who has left him searching for reinforcements.

Certainly his players were still fuming as they made their way back home.

Hartley added: "The red card was harsh. Steven caught Shevchenko and no more but he wasn't even the last man because Gary Caldwell was there as cover.

"As for the penalty, it was soft but sometimes in international football you don't get these decisions. It can feel as if the referees are being very hard on you.

"We always knew we would be under a lot of pressure in spells of Wednesday night's game and we knew we would have to work ever so hard.

"We did that but we just ran out of a little bit of luck when it mattered. They got their goals at the right time.

"In the second half we had a lot more of the ball and passed it a lot better but the sending-off and the penalty killed us in the end."

The question now is whether or not we can be resurrected in March.

Smith has the know-how and his team has the will to make it happen. Also, although the Georgians are a decent outfit, they are far less powerful than the top three seeds in the group.

Scotland can win this game, but not without another almighty effort. The good news is men like Hartley are already desperate to get back to work.

He said: "It's been a fantastic experience to be involved in this campaign.

"We've played four massive games and made a terrific start but we now have to push on from here.

"Hopefully it's going to get even better."

'We have the measure of anyone in the group'

Taken from the Daily Record