Wilkie still bears scars from the 6-0 mauling

ONE set of ears had reason to listen most attentively to the injury up-dates issued from the Scotland camp this week. No-one could blame Lee Wilkie for imagining the scenario, amid a bonfire of centre-halves, where he was called-up for a return to Amsterdam, and the stadium where he saw his international career stall five years ago.
He believes he has unfinished business as far as Scotland is concerned, but like the rest of his team-mates that night was simply glad when the evening ended, defeat restricted to just the half-dozen goals.

Wilkie was 23 at the time, and though scorched by the hat-trick grabbing Ruud Van Nistelrooy could not have anticipated his Scotland career lying buried beneath an avalanche of goals.

There are other contributing factors which explain why he has not returned to the international set-up, though the Dutch match helped smear his reputation. This being football, where the cruel maxim about being only as good as your last game is an enduring one, few care to recall his towering performance just five days earlier, when he marked Van Nistelrooy out of the first-leg of the European Championship play-off.

"The first game was a good one for me," he acknowledged, with the heat having been firmly on the defender following a shaky performance in his previous appearance against the Faroe Isles. "Holland were off form and we played well. We did everything we should have done, kept it tight and obviously got the goal.

"Sometimes things just click into place and you have a good day. That was one of those days. And not just for me. A lot of players playing that day went out believing in themselves. Some days you can be a yard off the pace and you don't know why. Other days the ball drops for you and every tackle you make is a good one."

An off day waited just around the corner, however. Christian Dailly, who had helped Wilkie through the first-leg and contributed a man-of-the-match performance in front of the defenders, was suspended, and though Gavin Rae replaced him, he was deployed on the right of midfield.

In the centre of an unprotected defence Wilkie and Steven Pressley were powerless against the rampant Dutch, who had cancelled out James McFadden's winner at Hampden after just 13 minutes and had trebled this lead by half-time.

"What we didn't do was keep things tight," he reflected. "We let some silly goals in which you can't do against good teams. The game was hard enough as it was. We let in poor goals from set pieces.

"What sticks in my mind is our defensive set-up. Because I was the biggest I had been put at the front post in the home game. In the second game they started putting all their high balls to the back post, so I got put to the back. Then they put the balls to the front, and ended up scoring a couple from boys running into that area. That was a bit unfortunate. We were trying to use my height, but the Dutch were wise to it."

Wilkie recollects an admirable wall of resolve at half-time, though with hindsight agreed it might simply have been evidence of shell-shock: "Everyone was still trying to be up-beat. We knew that one goal might change things, and put pressure on them and make it 3-2 on aggregate.

"We didn't think it was totally lost. But looking back it wasn't a great situation to be in."

He has some advice for Darren Barr and Christophe Berra, one of whom is likely to follow in his footsteps as a young centre-half presented with the challenge of a lifetime tonight.

"Concentration – that's the main thing," he offered. "I struggled with that when I was younger. I have played against Barr and Berra and they are good professionals, with experienced heads on them.

"Barr is captain of Falkirk and Berra was captain at Hearts. It is really just down to concentration when you are against teams like that. The main thing is just to defend well. Just look after the basics."

Asking Wilkie to ponder this period of his life gives rise to a multitude of emotions in the player, who, just minutes after the final whistle in Amsterdam, also learned the news that his then club, Dundee, were on the brink of administration.

The steep slopes of the Amsterdam Arena simply accentuated the sensation of a world caving in. But the following month also saw Wilkie become a father, when his then girlfriend gave birth to Jack. Now five, he stands as a monument to Wilkie's Scotland exile.

It is another reason why he is determined to force his way back into contention. Indeed, Wilkie can't escape reminders of an international career that came and went when he was too young to appreciate it.

Iceland's visit to Hampden Park on Wednesday calls to mind his winning goal against the same opponents six years ago tomorrow.

He plans to watch tonight's match in a Glasgow bar on a rare weekend off, and following his attendance at a Jimmy Carr gig in the city last night.

He confessed, however, to some brief moments of hope that he might have been given the opportunity to atone for his part in a comedy of errors in Amsterdam.

"There was a bit of excitement when I heard 'Mick' McManus was injured and Davie Weir had pulled out," he said. "There has been some talk about me being brought into the squad. But Berra and Barr are young and you have to look to the future.

"But when I heard a couple of boys had pulled out I did start to get a feeling. If McManus had been ruled out earlier in the week then maybe things would have been different."

Berti Vogts handed Wilkie all his 11 caps so a change in manager didn't help his Scotland prospects, but just a matter of weeks after the heavy Dutch defeat came the main reason why he has not donned an international shirt again.

That Wilkie is able to look back while sitting with mud-splattered legs after an intense Friday training session with his Dundee United team-mates is reason in itself to celebrate.

The lowest point of his career arrived swiftly after a career-high of snuffing out Van Nistelrooy's danger at Hampden. Wilkie's knee collapsed during a Dundee derby in January 2004. When it went again the following year, Wilkie even contemplated a life on the rigs.

But he has battled back to the point that his interest in the call-offs from the Scotland squad this week cannot be regarded as delusional.

He has earned the right to be considered a Scotland candidate once more, and will surely be included in the B squad for next month's fixture with Northern Ireland.

"People think that when you get a long term injury you will be back playing well within a couple of weeks of your return," he said.

"But it's a long haul. I am still on my comeback, and getting stronger all the time."

Taken from the Scotsman