IT was meant to be one of the biggest days of Billy Dodds' life. But in the end it only turned into one of his biggest disappointments. It will be 20 years this Sunday since the striker's first start for his country famously descended into high farce in the picturesque Estonian capital of Tallinn.

To be fair, to be accurate about it, it was a start. Dodds, then of Aberdeen, did at least get to touch the ball, rolling it sideways to John Collin before the match was abandoned seconds later. A bemused Scottish team turned to receive the acclaim from the travelling ranks of the Tartan Army, as they celebrated what they assumed was the easiest win in history.

Their Estonian opposition was nowhere to be seen, having thumbed their noses at a Fifa edict to kick the game off early due to the faulty floodlights which the Scots had noticed as they trained at the Kadrioru Stadium the night before. While the Scottish support made light of the affair in their usual exuberant manner, their mood was hardly improved when Fifa ordered the match to be replayed in the neutral venue of Monaco.

Dodds had lost his place in the squad by the time that came round, and Estonia magnified the unfairness of the affair by escaping with a goalless draw. If Scotland can laugh about it now, as we went on to reach the World Cup in 1998 regardless, it didn't do Dodds much good, who was omitted from the squad. While failing to play in a major finals for his county remains the major regret in his career, at least things came full circle when his international career was relaunched with two goals and an assist when the Baltic state visited Tynecastle in October 1998.

"I can remember it clear as anything because it was my first 'start'," Dodds told Herald Sport. "It was such a big occasion for me and for the rug to get pulled out on me like that was so disappointing because I was looking forward to it so much. I had done well against Latvia during the week for half an hour then Craig Brown put me in the starting line-up, which was great.

"I was buzzing, then that happens to me and you have all the emotions going through your head," he added. "You are trying to be professional, doing all the right things, because Craig Brown thought they were going to jump off a bus and try to do us.

"We did our usual pre-match, ate lunch three hours before a match. We had heard rumours and we were all thinking 'no chance is an international team just not going to turn up for a match'. It was John Collins and I who took the centre I think I rolled the ball to him, because John was saying he was either going to do a mazy and run it into the net or blast it from the halfway line.

"The Scotland fans were great. You would think they would be raging having spent a grand or more to get out there. But the banter was brilliant. All the songs were going. 'What a s***** home support'. 'We can see you sneaking out'. 'There's only one team in Tallinn."

While he still has his Scotland cap tucked away from the 'game that never was' - he isn't sure where the jersey is but there certainly wasn't anyone to swap it with - Dodds' abiding emotion is simply disbelief at how Fifa allowed the Estonians to wriggle off the hook.

"The kick-off time had been brought forward because of the dodgy floodlights but no-one ever thought that they really weren't going to turn up," said Dodds. "I still can't believe that they got away with it. I still find it incredible that a small nation like that, being ordered to kick off and just failing to turn up could get a replay out of it. How they could stick two fingers up at Fifa, refuse to play a game and actually get a replay was just beyond me. From the referee down, everybody at the time thought it was three points to Scotland, you just can't do that. When you see what has happened since with Sepp Blatter, you just don't know what was going on.

"By the time the replay came round all the so-called big guns were back," he added. " I hadn't established myself as an international player, and I wasn't in the squad for the Monaco game. Sometimes these things can be a blessing in disguise. The only thing I really missed in my career was playing at a major finals with Scotland. I just missed out by a couple of months but no hard feelings.

"But it all came full circle at the time of the return match with Estonia at Tynecastle. My first start got ripped away from me, then I came on and scored my first couple of international goals against them when we were one-down against them at Tynecastle. It is funny how things sometimes come full circle. I scored the first, had a hand in the second then the third one I scored with five minutes to go to win the match. So I guess I got my own back on Estonia in the end."