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Your support makes all the difference.SEVERAL Scotland players emerged from the setback in the World Cup warm- up match against Denmark with reputations enhanced. Sadly for 26,000 spectators at Ibrox, they came almost exclusively from Craig Brown's list of absentees.
The 1-0 defeat was the Scots' ninth in 14 friendlies under Craig Brown, contrasting starkly with their performances in competitive games. While the result may have had scant significance for the June adventure against Brazil, Morocco and Norway, the disappointing displays by some of Brown's fringe candidates merely underlined the qualities of those missing through injury.
"We have a good nucleus of 14 to 15," the Scotland manager said yesterday, "but there's much of a muchness after that." Gamely as he tried to talk up the input of Scot Gemmill and Billy McKinlay in midfield, their efforts paled next to the passing ability normally provided by John Collins and Paul Lambert.
The case for giving the Celtic playmaker Craig Burley an opportunity to fill Gary McAllister's role in the next game, against Finland in Edinburgh on 22 April, was also unwittingly enhanced.
The service to the strikers was so lacking that it was difficult to assess the capabilities of Darren Jackson, Scott Booth and Eoin Jess. But Brown was sufficiently concerned about Scotland's lack of scoring potential when Kevin Gallacher is unfit to admit that he will be monitoring the form of 35-year-old Ally McCoist.
One consolation was that the back three looked reasonably secure, notwithstanding Christian Dailly's mistake for the goal.
Tuesday's 4-0 victory over Wales in the B match at Cumbernauld gave Brown food for thought as he ponders his selection to face the Finns. Tosh McKinlay, who played in all 10 qualifying games for France 98 but lost his place after failing to find favour with Wim Jansen at Celtic, may yet have a part to play after making two goals.
There were also some eye-catching saves by Jonathan Gould, whose form for Celtic has made him unrecognisable from the goalkeeper who struggled to establish himself at Coventry and Bradford.
Brown said he "could not ignore" Gould's claims and acknowledged that there was still time for him to put pressure on Neil Sullivan as back- up to Jim Leighton and Andy Goram.
Meanwhile, Scotland's catalogue of friendly failures was not the only record that came in for criticism yesterday. The official World Cup song by Brown's squad and the group Del Amitri was attacked for being "dirge- like" by DJs on Radio Clyde.
The station polled listeners for their preference between "Don't Come Home Soon" and "Scotland Be Good", by the Wee-ist Pipe Band in the World, based on Chuck Berry's "Johnny B Goode". The unofficial anthem, which the Scottish Football Association allegedly refused to play during half- time at Ibrox, took 97 per cent of the votes.
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