CHARLIE CHRISTIE – Beating Spain one of finest Hampden moments
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I have been fortunate enough to enjoy witnessing some incredible atmospheres in football stadia over quite some time.
But the noise and passion inside Hampden Park 10 days ago after Scott McTominay’s second goal against Spain was really something quite special.
Given that it was almost 40 years since we had beaten the Spaniards, the crescendo of noise was perhaps understandable, but it really does make the hairs on the back of your neck stand up when the ‘Tartan Army’ are in full voice.
It will also be hugely satisfying and very important financially to the Scottish Football Association as they look around and see a Hampden Park full to the rafters. It wasn’t that long ago when selling tickets for the national team was a real challenge and I recall the home match as recently as November 2019 when, with only a week to go to the game, there were less than 10,000 tickets sold for the qualifier against Kazakhstan.
A week prior to the match Scotland boss Steve Clarke had signed an extension to his contract and nobody can argue the part he has played in resurrecting the national team’s fortunes. His loyalty to the squad was questioned before a ball was even kicked, but the back-to-back home wins over Cyprus and then Spain was total vindication of his thinking.
Unlike when he took over in May 2019, Clarke now knows he has a talented squad who do not need major surgery and who have a real togetherness as a group. Six points from the opening two qualification matches is as good as it gets but June will offer up another two big tests with a trip to Norway followed by a return to Hampden to face Georgia.
On the afternoon of our momentous Spain victory, I watched those two nations play in Georgia and, whilst the full-time result was a favourable draw for us, there was enough talent on display to know that we will need to be at our very best to keep our qualification dreams on course.
n It has been great to see the steady stream of supporters both new and old at the stadium in Inverness this week as tickets for our semi-final against Falkirk went on sale.
It is always refreshing to see renewed interest in the club and history shows that nothing does that better than a good cup run.
It has been a difficult season at times, but we are now putting together a good run of results which has kept us in touch with the play-off places as we welcome Raith Rovers.
In a league where anyone can beat anyone else on their day it is vital that we make sure that our remaining matches are all meaningful and that can also ensure that we take a large degree of positivity to Hampden.
