Follow the yellow metal road

CHRIS HOY may have won a hat-trick of gold medals in the last week or so but Gary Naysmith would settle for just one.

It is eight years and five permanent Scotland managers since Naysmith made his Scotland debut in a 2-1 friendly win against the Republic of Ireland in Dublin, but still the Sheffield United left-back stands nine caps shy of his half-century, a tally which would qualify him to receive the bauble, along with an invitation for life to all Scotland's home matches, and the honour of having his portrait hung at the Scottish Football Museum.

Qualification for the nation's first major tournament for 10 years would be as appropriate a way as any to celebrate the milestone.
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The man who assumed the Scotland captaincy when David Weir left the field late on Wednesday night, could, of course, have had such records in his back pocket already. He has been an automatic choice at international level when fit, but that hasn't always been the case.

Injuries - particularly to his ankle and medial knee ligament - and consequent non-selection was a feature of the latter stages of his Everton career, and similar fitness problems cost him the chance to feature in either of Scotland's epic home and away victories against France during the previous campaign. The good news, however, is that he has largely been healthy since his move to Yorkshire, as a million-pound makeweight in the deal which took Phil Jagielka to Goodison Park.

"It was 2000 when I played the Republic of Ireland and it seems a long time ago," Naysmith said. "I've always been selected and only to have 40 caps is frustrating - although there is nothing I can about that. Injuries are part and parcel of the game but when you're getting named in squads consistently for eight years you would expect to have more caps.

"I'm quite proud of the fact that I've been selected by all the managers since 2000," he added. "The target in mind is 50 caps now. Injuries have stopped me being able to set one of 75 or something but 50 is a realistic aim for me and hopefully I'll get that with the friendlies and qualifiers coming up by the end of the campaign.

"Although I played seven or eight of the qualifiers last year, I missed both games against France. That's frustrating and disappointing because I want to play in the big games. To miss them was a blow. I want to be fit and play in all the games and help us qualify."

Those who suggest that left-back is a problem position would be best advised to whisper such opinions when in Naysmith's earshot. "I think I've made left-back my own when I've played," he said. "To me, it's not a problem position and if I'm fully fit I can do a job for Scotland."

The player's breadth of experience makes him well placed to assess Scotland's tough opening double header next month, and the dreaded comparison with the Euro 2004 qualifying campaign, when that infamous draw against the Faroe Islands in Berti Vogts' first competitive match led directly to a pressure-laden second game in Reykjavik.

Fortunately Naysmith - who believes four points from the trips to Skopje and Reykjavik would constitute success - timed things well enough to score what is still his only goal in Scotland colours.

"Excluding Holland, I think Macedonia is going to be our toughest away game," the full-back said. "The temperature is not something we'll be used to, they got a draw against England and we've got to watch that the players don't take them lightly.

"We want a good result so we're not going to Iceland with the pressure that we must win.

"It's a tough group but there's no Faroe Islands or San Marino where there's a virtually guaranteed six points," he added. "I think teams will take points off each other and we need to make sure we're getting them against the other teams, Holland will take care of themselves.

"Two games and four points would be a great start."

A repeat of those goalscoring heroics in Iceland wouldn't hurt either. "For some reason, Berti saw me as a central midfielder against Iceland and I played there for the second half," he said. "I got forward and was lucky enough to score. That's something no one can ever take away from me - I scored for my country and it's something I'll always look back on and be proud of.

"I've got good memories of Iceland, we won the game and I'm looking forward to going back. I don't know if it was my best performance. It was probably the most memorable because I scored a goal.

"It's probably the only shot I've ever had playing for Scotland."

Taken from the Sunday Herald