Gordon Strachan needs four in a row to make Scottish history

Ikechi Anya, right, believes Scotland have plenty to build on for their remaining matches. Picture: SNS.

Losing the lead to England in the final moments on Saturday is set to have greater impact than simply breaking a nation’s hearts. The loss of two points courtesy of Harry Kane’s equaliser in time added on could prove the death knell to Scotland’s World Cup ambitions since it means Gordon Strachan’s side will most probably require maximum points from their four remaining Group F fixtures.

If Scotland do succeed in this lofty challenge it will be an unprecedented achievement. Three wins in a row are the most ever managed by Scotland in a World Cup qualifying campaign, a sequence of results they have managed to put together four times – in the 1974, ’78, ’90 and  ’98 campaigns.

Scotland won four in a row, including against France, in the Euro 2008 qualifying campaign under Alex McLeish, and five in succession during the Euro ’96 campaign when Craig Brown was manager. The latter sequence featured three games against San Marino and the Faroe Isles but also included hard-earned victories over Greece and Finland.

In order to secure second place this time around Scotland will likely be required to win four successive qualifying games starting away to Lithuania, where Scotland have won just once in their last four visits, in September.

A home fixture against Malta four days later completes the first of two double-headers, then Scotland finish off with tricky games against Slovakia at Hampden and away to  Slovenia in October.

With eight play-off places on offer, and England on course to finish top of Group F, Scotland must target second place and hope there is at least one runner-up elsewhere with a worse record.

One of the nine runners-up will face the frustration of losing out on a play-off place. As it stands, Scotland’s group is currently sitting sixth out of nine in the runners-up listings, with only results against the top five teams counting.

Craig Brown, who led Scotland to those five qualifying wins on the trot in 1995, believes Strachan’s side can obtain maximum points from their remaining Group F fixtures. Together with Jim Farry, then chief executive of the SFA, Brown ensured Scotland finished with three home fixtures en route to qualifying for Euro ’96 in England.

“The fixtures used to be determined by an often fraught meeting of the countries involved. Now it’s all done by computer,” said Brown when contacted by The Scotsman yesterday.

“Happily for Scotland, it’s thrown up a schedule I’d have taken, where there is the potential to finish strongly. That’s England out the way but Slovenia and Slovakia, the countries we are competing with, still have to play them. You would expect England to win these games, which closes the gap for us.

“The four games we have left are winnable,” he added. “There’s a feelgood factor now, after the last two matches, which the players will feed off.

“I have just been writing to a German coaching friend of mine, and I’m saying we can win four games. We’re certainly on the up and up. I know it’s an overused word, but we have got momentum. We’re not hanging on to a two-point or three-point lead – in sport, the worse thing possible is a losing lead. If we slip up in any of the games left then it will be a major disappointment.”

Like Brown, Ikechi Anya, who played right wing-back on Saturday, is upbeat about the chances of qualifying after recovering from the dismay at losing the lead so quickly against England. While history suggests otherwise, he sees “no reason” why Scotland can’t win every game they have left.

“There are positives to take from it,” he said of the England game. “We started the game well and forced England back, and then towards the end we had them really rattled. I felt we created some decent chances against them and limited them to only a few. So, when we meet up again and we sit down and watch it back, we will probably feel we did okay in the game.

“There is definitely plenty to build on for the matches against Lithuania and Malta next time round. We’ll be confident of getting two wins when the lads meet up again. I don’t know if we have to win every game but we certainly need to take points in every one.

“But we will be going out to get full points in every match, and I don’t see any reason why we can’t do it. It’s all about getting a bit of momentum going. We face Lithuania next and that match is winnable so hopefully we can get three points there then build  upon it.”

Anya was one of those required to ensure they maintained fitness before the England game, having finished his league season with Derby County in April. “I had a six-week break between my last game and then the England match so I am looking forward to just relaxing with family and friends until pre-season comes around again,” he said.

“It’s time to recharge the batteries and come back ready to go in July.”