Colin Stein recalls four-goal feat against Cyprus - the last man to hit hat-trick for Scotland

The ex-Hibs and Rangers striker remains the last man to score a hat-trick in dark blue after he netted half the goals in an 8-0 rout of the Cypriots in a World Cup qualifier in May 1969.

Four decades on, the 64-year-old remains proud of his record haul but is convinced that, one day, his feats will be overtaken. Stein said: “Scotland playing against Cyprus certainly does bring back some happy memories for me – I scored four goals. When I heard they were playing Cyprus I instantly thought of that night. They’ve played them a couple of times since that game and it brings back memories every time.”

Stein had another goal disallowed and could have had a fifth had he been tempted to prise the ball from the grasp of the nation’s regular penalty taker and Celtic rival, Tommy Gemmell.

In front of the ‘Rangers end’ at Hampden, there were calls for Stein to take the 76th-minute spot-kick, but he added: “I wasn’t the penalty taker, so Tommy Gemmell took it and scored. I wasn’t really tempted to take it off him, because I wasn’t thinking of records or anything like that.

“Four’s still a tremendous haul. It definitely ranks as one of my most memorable moments in the game, to score four goals for my country was fantastic.

“The fact that I’m still talking about it 42 years on and it’s still a record means it was quite an achievement. I think someone will break that record some time, but when I don’t know.”

One player who has a proven record of hat-tricks is Jordan Rhodes, who is expected to make his full international debut at some point against Cyrprus.The 21-year-old grabbed a trio of threes last month – two for Huddersfield Town and one for the Scotland Under-21 side – and Stein will be watching the youngster carefully in the hope he can ease the burden on the nation’s recognised main striker Kenny Miller.

He added: “I’ve seen Jordan Rhodes playing for the Under-21s and, of course, he plays for Huddersfield, where Denis Law started his career. He’s got a lot to live up to if he wants to be in the same class as Denis Law but I’ve seen him play a couple of times for Huddersfield as well and he’s definitely got an eye for goal.

“Anybody who scores goals at any level will always get attention. Everyone always remembers the goalscorers.

“Kenny Miller has a thankless task sometimes playing for Scotland, up there himself, which isn’t an easy thing to do.”

Stein was as disappointed as anyone north of the border at the team’s failure to qualify for Euro 2012 last month but he remains convinced the team is on the right track with manager Craig Levein and is hopeful of a better outcome in the qualifiers for World Cup 2014.

He said: “There are a lot of players in this squad that aren’t regulars, so it will be a good test for them and a good game for the manager to see what’s what.

“I think they’ve come together a wee bit lately. They’re playing a lot better than they were before, so I definitely thinking they’re improving.”