Wales v Scotland classic: Dramatic draw took Scotland closer to Mexico

By MARTIN HANNAN
Published on 12/10/2012 01:37

EVEN after 27 years, the pain of Jock Stein’s death at the end of this crucial World Cup qualifier in Cardiff still arouses raw emotions.

Part 4: Wales 1, Scotland 1

World Cup qualifying match, Tue, 10 September, 1985.

Ninian Park, Cardiff.

The pictures of the Big Man clutching at his chest as he exited the dugout just before the final whistle are still shocking even now. The realisation that he was probably already feeling the pain of his fatal heart attack makes the photographs almost unviewable, unless you are ready to shed tears.

Stein seemed indestructible, a living icon of Scottish football, and his men had just secured a valiant draw against Wales which put them in the play-offs against Australia for a place in the World Cup Finals in Mexico the following year.

Yet in a matter of minutes, Scottish triumph turned to disaster and Scotland’s joy transformed to grief as the news spread that Stein had succumbed to a massive heart attack at the age of 62. Stein’s passing completely overshadowed the match result. Supporters gathered outside Ninian Park and their message was heartfelt – “we’d rather be out of the World Cup and have big Jock back,” said a footsoldier of the Tartan Army, speaking for an entire nation.

Graeme Sharp, the Glaswegian striker who started his career with Dumbarton before becoming an Everton legend – he is now the Merseyside club’s fans liaison officer – vividly recalled the scene in the dressing room after the final whistle.

Sharp said: “We were delighted on the pitch but no sooner had we come off than we were met by the news that Jock had collapsed. It was all quiet in the dressing room, but we were still not thinking that it was going to be fatal. The next thing was Jimmy Steele, Jock’s close friend and the team masseur, coming into the dressing room in tears. We knew it was very bad then, and the emotions had switched from the joy of getting the point we needed to the shock of the news that Jock had passed away.”

Scotland had made it to the crunch match against Wales via a circuitous route. They beat Iceland home and away – Jim Bett scored the winner over there with four minutes to go – and recorded a brilliant victory over eventual Group 7 winners Spain at Hampden.

Wales pulled off the shock of the group by beating Scotland at Hampden which made the arithmetic simple – if Wales won in Cardiff, they would go on to meet Australia in the final play-off games, while any other result would see Scotland through.

Scotland were missing Graeme Souness and Kenny Dalglish, while Sharp and David Speedie were only winning their second caps that night. Wales had some of their best-ever players – Neville Southall in goal, Joey Jones and Kevin Ratcliffe in defence, Mickey Thomas down the left wing and a strike force to die for – Ian Rush and Mark Hughes.

“They had a good team, and we knew it wasn’t going to be an easy match,” said Sharp.

Indeed, Scotland went into the match as underdogs, and most pundits thought that Scotland’s run of three successive World Cup finals would come to an end in Cardiff. The Tartan Army thought otherwise and somehow yet again managed to be in the majority in the crowd of just under 40,000 that crammed into Ninian Park.

Sharp remembered an incident before the game: “We were backed by a great following, and during the warm-up Neville Southall asked big Jock to come and speak to the Scottish fans because they were refusing to give the balls back.

“As soon as Jock came on and signalled, the balls all came flying back, which shows the respect that the supporters and not just the players had for the big man.”

Wales went ahead through a well-taken Mark Hughes goal after just 13 minutes, and Scotland looked to be heading for a sound beating, though Roy Aitken and Steve Nicol drove the Scots forward. Another bizarre incident came at half-time. Goalkeeper Jim Leighton had lost a contact lens and didn’t have a replacement so Alan Rough had to take over in goal.

“Roughie came on and had a couple of decent saves,” said Sharp, “but the arrival of Davie Cooper (on for Gordon Strachan) made the difference.

“They had the better of it, and there wasn’t a lot of chances, but we got the penalty, rather fortunately I thought, and I didn’t fancy it even though I took penalties for Everton and has scored 30 goals in total that season. I didn’t fancy going up against my teammate Neville who was a fantastic goalkeeper and knew me inside out, but Davie Cooper had the bottle, and stepped up. He was different class and he stroked the ball home.”

Sending on Cooper for Strachan proved to be the last personnel change ever made by Jock Stein.

Wales: Southall, Jones, Van den Hauwe, Ratcliffe, Jackett, James (Lovell 80), Phillips, Nicholas, Thomas (Blackmore 83), Rush, Hughes

Scotland: Leighton (Rough 46), Gough, Malpas, Aitken, McLeish, Miller, Nicol, Strachan (Cooper 61), Sharp, Bett, Speedie.

Referee: Jan Keizer (Netherlands)

Attendance: 39,500