Sean Graham

Scotland’s European dream ended in the cruellest way possible at Hampden when a goal in stoppage-time from Christian Panucci ended all hopes they had of going to Austria and Switzerland. God knows how the players felt but I felt sick to my stomach as the ball landed in the back of the net.

The wet weather had not dampened the spirits of those who were inside Hampden or watching the match in pubs all over the country as all of Scotland was ready for a party.

The atmosphere inside Hampden was electric in the build up to the kick off and no one could have believed that the visitors would be ahead inside the first two minutes.

The Scottish defence were caught napping as Antonio Di Natale found Luca Toni at the front post and his shot from inside the six yard box beat Gordon to stun the Hampden crowd.

Scotland looked stunned and almost lost a second goal when Toni turned provider but Camoranesi fired high and wide, much to the relief of the Scots.

After the early set back, the Scots tried to settle back into their stride and play some football of their own and were unlucky not to score when McCulloch had a drive blocked by the upper body of Zambrotta,the Scots claimed for a penalty but their claims were waved away and a corner was all that was awarded from which Barry Ferguson shot high over the bar.

The Italians knew that they were in a game now as the Scots poured forward and from another corner, Alan Hutton saw his header go just inches wide of the post.

The game was swinging from end to end and the World Champions could and possibly should have gone two up when a Di Natale goal was chalked off after he scored from a rebound from a wonderful save from Craig Gordon as he threw himself to block a thumping drive from Ambrosini.

The Scots knew that they were let off the hook then but just before half time it was the Italians who rode their luck when Pirlo cleared a David Weir header off the line.

The Scots knew that they had to give it their all in this do or die 45 minutes and that they certainly did.

Alan Hutton who had been full of powerful running and causing the Italians problems all day, went on one of his rampaging runs and as made his way to the Italian box he was abruptly knocked to the floor.

Scotland knew they had to make this count, McFadden’s free kick took a deflection off the wall and fell to the feet of Lee McCulloch but his shot was blocked on the line but skipper Barry Ferguson was on hand to knock the ball home to send Hampden wild. The Scotland captain did look to be in an offside position but he cared not as he ran to celebrate with his team mates. Alex McLeish changed things around by bringing on Miller for Brown as his side went for the winner.

Miller’s pace alongside his strike partner was causing the Italian defence problems and creating chances for the Scots. McFadden would have welcomed the substitution as his shift was a thankless one playing as a lone striker against such top class defenders. As time was ticking away both sides knew that the side who could take their chance now would go on to win the match and that proved to be the case.

McFadden so often the hero for the Scots found himself clear in the box but at an angle and tried to beat the best keeper in the world from a really tight angle when he would have been better to square the ball to Miller who was free at the back post.

Then the Everton man started and almost finished the move when he beat two men in the middle of the park before playing a neat ball to Miller who played it across the area to find the out stretched leg of McFadden who shot agonisingly wide.

The Italians then moved up the park in an attempt to win the match and as Toni was trying to waste time by going to the corner flag, he was fouled by Hartley. Pirlo took the free-kick and Panucci’s header just missed the far post by inches, a let off for Scotland.

The match looked to be heading for a draw which at least would have been no more than the Scots deserved but the officials thought otherwise!

A harmless ball into the box was being chanced by Chiellini and Hutton and as the Scotland full back who had been immense all day, took a touch to clear, he was clearly barged off the ball by the Italian, a clear foul or throw in to the Scots was the thoughts.

Of everyone inside Hampden but to the utter amazement, Mr Manuel Enrique Mejuto Gonzalez from Spain gave the Italians a free kick??? Why no one will ever know!

From the Pirlo free kick, Scottish hearts were broken as Christian Panucci stole in at the back post to plant a header past Gordon to win it for the World Champions and send Hampden into a sea of tears.

The Full Time score will read Scotland 1 Italy 2 but it does not tell the story of a Scotland team who in a group with the World Cup winners and runners up and Ukraine, finished with 24 points behind the two teams that everyone thought would qualify anyway!

Scotland can be so proud of what they have achieved in this group and they will learn and take heart from two wins against France and a great home record that only a disgraceful decision robbed the Scots of taking a draw against Italy and at least hoping that Ukraine would beat France on Wednesday but it was not to be.

From September 2nd 2006 and the 6-0 victory over the Faroe Islands at Celtic Park right through to the defeat at home to Italy in the cruellest of ways, this group of players have given everything under Walter Smith first of all and now under Alex McLeish, this whole country should be so proud of all the memories they have given them, we do have a team for the future.

I have enjoyed watching them as a fan and writing about them also as a fan, they have made me proud to be Scottish and I am already looking forward to covering Scotland again as we prepare for our future.

Thanks for the memories, Euro 2008 was only a dream but if we don’t have dreams then we have nothing, we look forward to the draw for South Africa 2010 and hope the draw is a little kinder to us although in these qualifiers, we did give a few of the big boys a fright.

Good Luck to Italy and France in Austria and Switzerland in 2008.