Confused Scots fail to exploit one-man advantage

Burley formation raises eyebrows before Irish debutant McGivern sees red and McGregor spares own blushes with penalty save

GLENN GIBBONS
at Hampden Park

WISH fulfilment remained well beyond George Burley's reach last night, when the Scotland manager's hoped-for victory over Northern Ireland failed to materialise. Most worryingly for Burley and the home fans, such a frustration seemed inevitable virtually throughout a largely undistinguished 90 minutes.
The second-half penalty kick substitute Allan McGregor saved from David Healy and the ordering off just minutes before of the Irish left-back, the 18-year-old debutant, Ryan McGivern, were isolated moments of excitement in a match that could not reasonably be used as a measure of the Scots' prospects in their opening World Cup qualifier in Macedonia next month.

The Scots for a long time appeared generally ill at ease, deriving in no small part from the way in which they were deployed. James Morrison and Scott Brown were the two most striking examples of Burley's curious logic in the matter of maximising the worth of his assets.

Morrison, who normally plays wide on the right for West Brom or in the midfield holding role – a position in which the Scotland manager himself watched him excel against Arsenal last Saturday – was assigned the left wing. Ironically, the player who performs that function for the Midlands club, Chris Brunt, was playing for Northern Ireland.

Brown was ordered to patrol the other flank, a job which he does not relish. For much of the time, his discomfort was glaring, the Celtic midfielder frequently – and understandably – moving inside, where he believed he could make a more telling contribution.

With the naturally left-footed Kevin Thomson selected (to the surprise omission of Barry Robson, who replaced the Rangers man at the start of the second half), the notion that he and Morrison should have been on the left and right respectively, with Brown and Darren Fletcher foraging through the middle, seemed to gain more currency as the players became progressively disorientated.

In the circumstances, it was hardly surprising that any threat from the home side would come from the individual skills of James McFadden, the Birmingham forward almost invariably surrounded by opponents who realised from early on that he had no supporting midfielders to whom to release the pass.

McFadden's sleight-of-foot remains as mesmerising as ever, but, on too many occasions, he was simply outnumbered. He did, however, feint past two white shirts on the right edge of the penalty area before seeing his low centre towards his striking partner, Kenny Miller, intercepted by Motherwell's Stephen Craigan.

And when he received a long pass from Graham Alexander on the right side of the box, McFadden quickly brought the dropping ball under control and moved past McGivern, but was unable to exert enough power on the shot to beat Maik Taylor at his left post.

Burley's half-time changes seemed to suggest that this friendly should no longer be viewed as a rehearsal for Macedonia, but as an opportunity to give fringe players some possibly worthwhile experience. McGregor's appearance in place of Craig Gordon in goal and Robson's taking over from Thomson would not be unexpected, and allowing the rookie, Darren Barr of Falkirk, to take the role of Stephen McManus alongside Davie Weir in central defence was a sensible move with the future in mind.

The sense of experimentation would be deepened soon after, when another debutant, Kris Commons, replaced Morrison and, later, when Michael Stewart won his fourth cap after an absence of six years by taking over from Fletcher and Christophe Berra replaced Weir.

In between those early changes came the moments of drama that could not have been predicted from the evidence of an almost unremittingly bland first half. McGivern's ordering-off was quickly followed by McGregor's penalty save, a prime example of football's occasional inexplicable capacity for self-combustion.

The dismissal of McGivern simply underlined the value of playing Brown through the middle. Charging forward from his own half, the midfielder took Miller's lateral pass in his stride and had reached the edge of the area when McGivern took him down from behind. Having been cautioned for a foul on Brown in the first half, this second yellow card meant expulsion.

The Irish won their penalty through the sub, Warren Feeney of Dundee United, when he suddenly burst past the home defenders. McGregor, left exposed, took the forward's right leg as he knocked the ball wide of the goalkeeper. McGregor, however, distinguished himself with an excellent save, diving low to his right to stop and then hold David Healy's well-struck conversion attempt.

On a night when such incidents were at a premium, few fans would have left the stadium feeling as though they had been royally entertained.

Taken from the Scotsman