Football: Brown remains wary

Phil Shaw on a night that took Scotland closer to the World Cup

Craig Brown found himself yesterday in the unaccustomed position, for a Scotland manager, of having to warn against premature triumphalism. A great night for the Scots' World Cup prospects did not mean it was goodnight Vienna for Austria, their victims in Glasgow, or indeed for Sweden.

Aware that Scottish sides tend to function better as underdogs, Brown was at pains to point out that Austria still have the edge in one respect. Their most arduous remaining fixture in Group Four, against the Swedes in September, is at home.

Scotland's, which is also against a Sweden team that Brown has described as the best in the section, comes in Gothenburg at the end of this month.

"We're not there yet," Brown said. "I'm being sensible because the group is distorted by our having played more games. But if we go to Sweden and win, then I'll say we can only throw it away. I don't see us letting our fans down at home to Latvia and Belarus, though we have a tricky match in Belarus on 8 June.''

How quickly, how completely, the mood surrounding the national side has changed. Seven weeks after they were jeered off in Monaco following the barren draw with Estonia, their captain, Gary McAllister, was moved to declare Wednesday's performance as "as good team-wise as I've ever played with Scotland".

In terms of passion, on the pitch and in the stands, Brown likened it to another epic 2-0 success, over France at Hampden Park eight years ago, which proved decisive in taking Andy Roxburgh's squad through to Italy. Fervour we expect; but Brown went on to claim that his Scotland had also developed a more Continental style.

Those who witnessed the 100mph, hit-and-hope fiasco of Monte Carlo would have had trouble taking such a suggestion seriously prior to last weekend's win over the Estonians at Kilmarnock. Seeing, however, was believing, and the technique shown particularly by John Collins and Paul Lambert, who play in France and Germany respectively, meant it was also a bad night for the Eurosceptics.

Collins, who had a decent Euro 96 before leaving Celtic for Monaco, is well known beyond Scotland; Lambert less so. Since joining Borussia Dortmund from Motherwell last summer the 27-year-old midfielder has gained a reputation as a holding player, adept at the kind of man-marking that negated the vaunted Andreas Herzog.

More pertinently to Brown's "European" emphasis on possession, playing with Matthias Sammer and Andreas Moller has helped Lambert become a more constructive passer. "I've been transformed since I went to the Bundesliga - I think I've played one long ball since I signed," he said.

"If you give the ball away your team-mates look at you as if you're a criminal. It's considered the ultimate sin, and even when you do it in training you can expect a rollicking."

Other significant successes included the front pair, Darren Jackson and the two-goal Kevin Gallacher. Their pace, strength and instinctive understanding prompted the manager to compare them favourably with the Scots' last genuine attacking partnership, between Ally McCoist and Maurice Johnston.

Midfield has been Scotland's strongest unit under both Roxburgh and Brown. Defence has improved to the extent that Jim Leighton's 40th clean sheet in 77 caps was also his country's 14th in 15 competitive games, an astonishing record marred only by Messrs Shearer and Gascoigne since December 1994.

If those departments maintain standards, and the strikers continue to forge a bond, Gothenburg need not be a cause for trepidation.