Scotland qualify for next Year’s European Championships and the nation rejoices. We squeeze in by a back door entry and do so by winning a penalty shoot-out on a wet night in Belgrade. And of course we do it the hard way.
Leading 1-0 with a couple of minutes to go and then conceding the equaliser ensured nails would be bitten as the shoot-out loomed. Actually, it wasn’t just a back-door that we have entered by, but a basement one, for we had come only third in the normal qualifying pool, and then were offered a second chance in a subsidiary group of matches.
No matter. For the first time since 1998, after years of failing to reach the World or European Championships proper, Scotland will be there, and Nicola Sturgeon can lead the nation in cheering the team on. It’s been a very long wait. The Scottish Parliament wasn’t yet in being in 1998.
