Scotland fans: 'We're alive and kicking'

Published on Thursday 2 April 2009 09:52

Bryan Phillips, a postgraduate student from Marchmont, felt Scotland did all that was required of them. He said: "This was never going to be the prettiest of games given the circumstances and you could have cut the tension in Hampden with a knife, especially after Iceland scored. Whether this will be enough to get us back into the reckoning for the best-place second team remains to be seen, but I won't be holding out too much hope though. It was great to see Steven Fletcher get his first

Harry Swarbrick, a pensioner from Craigleith, saw a renewed confidence in Scotland. He said: "I've seen Scotland teams play a lot better and lose so you've got to be reasonably happy with that. I thought it was good to see Gordon back between the sticks and he was a lot more solid than McGregor had been for us. McManus did well at the back and I think this team still has a lot of promise and may just sneak into the play offs. To a large degree that's out of our hands now and its just a case of waiting and seeing. Burley still has a job as far as I'm concerned! I'd love to see him leading this team to South Africa in 2010 but you just have to wonder if that's a wee bit early for them – maybe the Euro Championships is where you'll see them really make their mark. By that stage young boys like Scott Brown and both Fletchers will be reaching their peaks and will cause bother for anyone."

Andy Brown from Mountcastle said: "There's getting a result and there's getting by. Lack of first touch was a big problem with most of our players – the number whose first touch took the ball so far away from them was incredible. I'm not sure the state of the pitch helped though – it was shocking and for the national stadium, a total disgrace. The result was more important than the performance though. On the plus side – both goals were well taken, but a bit harum scarum defending at times and it was all hands to the pump.

"It was good to see Fletcher get on the score sheet, but no surprise he couldn't score with his right foot, even for Scotland! Hopefully we can build upon this result and claim second place – a good result for us with Holland beating Macedonia and I just hope we are one of the best-placed second teams. Looking forward our next game in Oslo, but a bit worried about the timing of the game."