Das is better, Scotland!
Scotland made it back-to-back wins with a convincing victory, in the end, to maintain their 100 per cent record against Canada. But the real merit of the success was the fact that the visitors proved to be no push-overs and made Berti Vogts' side work hard for their Easter Road triumph.
The Scots' German coach fielded a below-strength team as his charges sought to build on their morale-boosting 2-0 win in Iceland at the weekend and they looked even more unfamiliar in a blue pin-striped kit. Scotland's new-look line-up took time to settle and it was the visitors who struck first.
Just eight minutes were on the clock when Stephen Pressley, so impressive and so dominant against Iceland, was adjudged to have fouled Dwayne de Rosario inside the box, after a defensive mix-up, and the same Canadian player got up to convert the spot kick with some aplomb.
But Vogts will have been pleased with the reaction of his players to the early and unexpected set-back and, to their credit, the Scots hit back within three minutes of the opener when Scot Gemmill clipped a clever ball through to Stevie Crawford who out-witted and then out-paced the Canadian defence before registering his second international goal with a cool finish.
Other odd chances came and went for both teams, with Tomasz Radzinski and de Rosario squandering chances for the visitors either side of a headed chance Christian Dailly, a scorer against Iceland, might feel he should have converted.
The same would certainly apply to Stephen Thompson who sent a diving header woefully wide just before the break and then headed over soon after, although he did make up for his misses with a cracking drive into the roof of the net after a goalmouth scramble.The game was effectively ended in the 73rd minute when Crawford netted his second goal of the night, his third in six internationals, and he almost became the first Scot for 33 years (since Colin Stein) to score a hat-trick for his country.
Vogts was delighted with the performances of both Crawford and Thompson, saying: "Both worked very well together. Steven Thompson and Stevie Crawford were great and I'm looking forward to the next game."
The German, under so much pressure before the Iceland game, also paid tribute to the Scottish supporters who have rallied around him and his team. He added: "The fans have always been behind me because they know the problems with Scottish football. They have always been great to me, but it is a little bit easier with two wins."
So Scotland, finally, are beginning to produce the goods and although future opponents, Germany in particular, will be a different proposition, Vogts seems to have turned the corner. And in debutant Paul Devlin, the coach has belatedly unearthed a 30-year-old gem.
Vogts felt that the second half performance of the Birmingham midfielder was the key to his side's victory and he added: "It was the perfect end to a perfect week for Scottish football. Paul Devlin did really well on the right hand side, especially in the second half."
