Massive night for Scotland

It transpired that last week's pessimism concerning Saturday's clash with Holland at the Amsterdam ArenA was absolutely justified and tonight Scotland welcome Iceland to Hampden in what is being billed by all and sundry as a 'must win' game. This is undoubtedly the case as failure to beat the men from the even more frozen north would send the good ship carrying Scotland's world cup qualification hopes crashing into an iceberg and ensure a frosty reception for manager George Burley in Thursday's press. 'Snow joke. I started out well behind Burley but every little new development is serving to drain my confidence of the man who took Hearts to the giddy heights of the SPL summit a few years ago (albeit temporarily) but now seems a little lost in the foothills of the national side. Fallouts with players, notably Kris Boyd, combine with poor results generally to make me somewhat concerned for the future under Burley's stewardship. I'm not sure of the ins and outs of the disciplinary action against McGregor and captain Ferguson but if nothing else it does show the players aren't being kept in control as well as you would like. One thing is for sure; failure to beat Iceland will mean a sharpening of knives amongst the Scottish media pack and to be honest, you wouldn't blame them.

There were reasons for optimism on display in Amsterdam. Ross McCormack was arguably Scotland's best player in his first start and his attacking flair will surely be a crucial part of what needs to be a positive approach to the match against a team we really should be opening up against, especially at home. Hutton and McManus look like they'll be back to shore up the defence and the Celtic stopper will need to contain the attacking prowess of Barcelona's Eidur Gudjohnsen if we're to get the clean sheet that I think we might need to win this match. The tartan army will fill the national stadium again and I really hope they get right behind the team right from the get go and don't get too impatient if we don't score early. I've seen it happen too many times and the jitters of the fans do sometimes filter through to the players which wont help anyone!

'Mon the Scotland!
Kick off 8pm, Sky Sports 2.