RWC 2015: The top five traumatic Scotland sporting moments

Sunday’s heart-breaking World Cup exit was tough. But from bitter experience Robin Scott-Elliot knows the pain of following Scotland teams. He presents his nation’s leading sob stories, starting with one agonising minute at Wembley

Scotland captain Greig Laidlaw reacts to defeat by Australia (Getty Images)

It is not, to paraphrase Irvine Welsh politely, always sweetness and light being Scottish, and nowhere more so than when it comes to enduring the country’s sporting fortunes on the international stage. There is thickness of skin required and a level of optimism that goes beyond reason – the glass is often half-empty, so why not drain it and get a refill? – but the last couple of weeks have stretched that to the limit.

First, Robert Lewandowski’s last-gasp, painfully scrappy dispatch of Scotland’s fading hopes of a first major football finals since 1998 inflicted another wounding blow to the national sporting psyche. But at least that did not prove to have lost them a place at France 2016. Sunday came at greater cost, and at Twickenham of all places. It is a worthy contender for the top five most painful moments in Scottish sporting history. This is going to hurt:

1 Gary McAllister, Wembley 1996 – and what happened next

Scotland nurtured a quiet confidence they could poop England’s first football party since 1966. Both had drawn their opening group games, but the Scots had earned their point against the Dutch while Switzerland had held England. Scotland had an experienced side and a midfield Gordon Strachan would kill for today – Stuart McCall, Gary McAllister and John Collins.

In an even match, England were leading 1-0 when Tony Adams fouled Gordon Durie in the penalty area and up stepped McAllister, the master of the dead-ball. As he ran up, the ball shifted slightly, David Seaman saved and in the next moment there was Paul Gascoigne flicking that ball over Colin Hendry and beyond Andy Goram to make it 2-0. Game over.

David Seaman saves Gary McAllister’s penalty at Euro ’96 (Getty Images)

2 Ally MacLeod, Peru and all that

For most of Britain, Peru means Paddington. For Scotland, it was the beginning of its darkest football night. The hype that accompanied Scotland to Argentina in 1978 remains breathtaking even by today’s standards. Much of it was generated by the remarkable MacLeod, who just this weekend was inducted into Scottish football’s Hall of Fame, as 30,000 turned up at Hampden to wave off Britain’s only representatives at the World Cup. We really thought we might win it. This was a good Scottish team: Dalglish, Gemmill, Hartford, Souness, Jordan.

Then the football began. Scotland actually started brightly and went ahead through a Joe Jordan goal but were taken aback by Peru – MacLeod hadn’t really bothered to scout his opponents. Peru scored three times, Scotland missed a penalty. “I would like to congratulate Scotland and Mr MacLeod on the team they presented to us,” said MacLeod’s opposite number, Marcos Calderon, Peruvian tongue firmly in Peruvian cheek. Four days later Scotland needed an own goal to draw with Iran and that was that no matter what Gemmill did against the Netherlands.

3 Costa Rica and Italia ’90

Two words guaranteed to bring any Scot of a certain age out in a cold sweat – no, not Berti Vogts, it’s Costa Rica, Los Ticos, making their World Cup debut against Scotland, ready for a fifth successive finals. Unlike MacLeod, Andy Roxburgh had done his homework on their first opponents and knew their abilities – yet few back home believed it would be anything other than a gimme for Scotland. “They were only there to be thumped,” said Craig Brown, Roxburgh’s assistant, of the supporters’ perception. “The reality was different.” Painfully so: four minutes into the second half Claudio Jara’s back-heel took out the Scotland defence and Juan Cayasso scored the only goal.

Scotland are given the runaround by Costa Rica at Italia ’90 (Getty Images)

4 Gavin Hastings, Murrayfield 1991

“He’s too good to miss,” said the commentator as Hastings lined up his kick – back in the days when you scooped up a platform of mud and grass on which to place the ball. Scotland v England: the tightest, most brutal of World Cup semi-finals, one that would be settled by a single kick. The match was in its final quarter at Murrayfield, tied at 6-6 with momentum moving in Scotland’s favour, when they won a penalty, inside the 22, just to the right of the posts. Hastings, one of Scotland’s greatest-ever players, had just been flattened by a Mickey Skinner special, he was groggy but wanted to take the kick. “In hindsight I should never have taken that,” he said years later. He missed, Rob Andrew’s drop goal didn’t and England were in the final.

Gavin Hastings rues his miss at Murrayfield in 1991 (Getty Images)

5 Craig Joubert and that penalty

“Sport can be cruel,” said Nathan Hines, one of Scotland’s coaching team yesterday. And then some. This was not the most painful moment in Scottish sporting history – football hurts many more – but it may well be the cruellest in that it was, unlike all the above, not self-inflicted. At least, not totally self-inflicted.

Scotland did shoot themselves in the foot by messing up that final line-out, but it was Joubert’s mistake that allowed the horrible coup de grâce. Add the South African and his the other officials failing to notice a late shoulder charge on Stuart Hogg that should have been a game-saving penalty and, for once, Scotland can grumble at sporting injustice rather than sporting ineptitude. Not that that makes it feel any better.