(Gudjohnsen 48)
Attendance 37,938
Scotland secured a narrow and somewhat fortuitous 2-1
victory over Iceland at Hampden this afternoon to
remain on course for at least a play-off place in the
race to qualify for EURO 2004.
Barry Ferguson was the only Ranger in Scotland¹s
starting line-up with Bob Malcolm on the bench,
although ex-Rangers¹ Steven Pressley and Kenny Miller
were both on from the start.
With a healthy 37,000 audience in attendance the Scots
made a positive start Kenny Miller netting his first
International goal in the tenth minute from a low
Graham Alexander cutback.
The home side was well on top throughout the
first-half without realistically threatening to
increase their lead, although Icelandic goalkeeper
Arni Arason had to be alert on the stroke of half-time
when he held a Gary Naysmith header from an Alexander
cross.
Scotland fully deserved their interval lead, yet
within three minutes of the restart it was all-square
when Chelsea star Eidur Gudjohnsen beat the offside
trap from a Johannes Gudjonsson through-ball, flicking
the ball over the out-rushing Robert Douglas into the
net.
Shaken by that setback, the Scots might have regained
the lead within three minutes when Lee Wilkie had a
free header from an Alexander corner only to direct it
over the bar.
Wilkie however was extremely lucky not to be the
villain of the piece sixty seconds later when he
upended Gudjohnsen inside the penalty box. Dutch
Referee Rene Temmink penalised the defender with the
award of an INDIRECT free-kick to Iceland a bizarre
decision to say the least, for if it was a foul as
the official obviously thought it was then the only
possible decision was a penalty.
The visitors were now gaining the upper hand, and that
man Gudjohnsen the outstanding player afield
almost gave them the lead when his back-post header
from a Gudjonsson cross just missed the target in 55
minutes.
Barry Ferguson almost turned the tide four minutes
later when his 25-yard drive from a Paul Lambert pass
was inches wide.
Scotland somewhat against the run of play regained
the lead on 70 minutes when Lee Wilkie headed home
substitute Paul Devlin¹s cross. Once again it was
Wilkie¹s first International goal from a player
rumoured to be Ibrox-bound this coming summer.
The closing stages were a nervous time for both
Scotland and their fans, but there was no further
scoring and the final whistle brought the home side
much closer to securing at least a play-off place,
although Wednesday¹s trip to Lithuania will be crucial
in deciding the final outcome of the group.
National Coach Berti Vogts expressed his delight at
the win, his first at Hampden as Scotland Manager:
³This was an exciting game. We started well, although
we had a bad fifteen minutes early in the second-half.
Barry Ferguson and Paul Lambert worked very hard for
the team. I am confident for Wednesday, although one
point would be a good outcome.²
Vogts had no comment to make on the non-award of a
penalty to Iceland that had such an impact on the
outcome of the game.
SCOTLAND Douglas; Alexander, Wilkie; Dailly, Pressley,
Ferguson; Crawford, Lambert, Miller (McNamara 80),
Hutchison (Devlin 64), Naysmith
UNUSED SUBS Gallacher, Malcolm, Cameron, Gemmill, Gray
ICELAND Arason, Thorsteinsson, Vidarsson (I.
Sigurdsson 82); L. Sigurdsson, Gunnarsson (T.
Gudjonsson 73), R. Kristinsson; Bergsson, Ingimarsson,
Gudjohnsen (Gudmundsson 88), J. Gudjonsson, Gretarsson
UNUSED SUBS B. Kristinsson, Marteinsson, Einarsson,
Baldvinsson
REFEREE Rene Temmink (Netherlands)