WHEN Kevin Gallacher helped fire Scotland to France ’98, their last major tournament finals, little did he imagine that, 18 years later, he would still be waiting for the national team to replicate that achievement.

Gallacher scored on no fewer than six occasions for his country during our last successful campaign; he netted doubles in wins over both Austria and Belarus and notched single strikes against Sweden and Latvia.

The Blackburn Rovers striker’s goals ensured that Craig Brown’s boys - who lost just once, away to Sweden in Gothenburg, in all 10 of their Group Four games - finished runners-up and secured their berth at the World Cup.

It is incredible to think that took place away back in 1997 and an entire generation of Tartan Army footsoldiers have grown up and reached adulthood without seeing Scotland in action at an international event. “I think what we did is appreciated more now than it was at the time,” said Gallacher.

The 48-year-old, though, has seen enough encouraging signs during Scotland’s current Euro 2016 campaign and is quietly confident that Gordon Strachan’s side is capable of ending a frustrating barren run.

He knows it won’t be easy. The national team has to overcome Poland, who will field world’s football’s form striker Robert Lewandowski, in their penultimate Group D fixture at Hampden on Thursday night and hope the Republic of Ireland lose to Germany in Dublin at the same time.

If that happens, then Strachan and his charges will still have to rely on Poland beating Ireland in Warsaw as they defeat minnows Gibraltar in Faro on Sunday.

Yet, Gallacher, who scored nine times in 53 international appearances, sees uncanny similarities between the current set-up and the one he was an important member of back in his playing days.

“Gordon has done exactly what Craig did,” he said. “He has created a club atmosphere within the national squad . The boys have bought into that. We haven’t been blessed with world class players over the years. The way Scotland have always achieved success is by working hard for each other.

“I like the way Gordon has got things working on the park and off the pitch as well. When the draw for the group was made two years ago, I would have been pleased with a third placed finish. It is a tough group. Getting to the play-offs would be a great start for him.”

Our bid to reach the European Championship finals next season would have been helped considerably if Strachan had been able to call on the services of a centre forward with Gallacher’s strike rate at international level.

The national manager is under pressure to give Leigh Griffiths, who took his tally for the 2015/16 season to 12 when he netted the winner for Celtic against Hamilton on Sunday, or even Jordan Rhodes, who has scored seven times in his last five games for Blackburn, a start ahead of Steven Fletcher.

Gallacher, though, has sympathy for Fletcher, who bagged only his second goal of the entire season at the weekend, and believes Strachan should persevere with the much-maligned Sunderland man against Poland.

“Steven Fletcher leads the line by himself and is expected to score goals and hold the ball up,” he said. “But, with a lesser international team, only the very best in the world, players like Lewandowski, can do that, can give you that bit extra.”

Gallacher knows all about Lewandowski. He is now a knowledgeable pundit for BT Sport Europe and spends much of his working life watching the prolific Bayern Munich terrorising opposition defences in the Bundesliga. He is a huge admirer.

“I have had the good fortune to follow him as he has moved from Borussia Dortmund to Bayern Munich and have seen the progress he has made and what he has added to the Munich team,” he said.

“He has definitely progressed since he was at Dortmund. He has got stronger. If you want to learn how to play as a lone striker then he’s the one you should watch. He is probably one of the few strikers who can play up front on his own and make it look easy.

“There is more to his game than scoring goals too. He leads the line well, he holds the ball up, he bring his team mates into play, he gets into position to score goals, his movement is exceptional and his positional play is exemplary.

“At the moment, from what I have seen of him so far this season, he is the complete centre forward. In the last fortnight he has scored five goals, two goals, three goals and two goals. It’s phenomenal.”

Still, Gallacher is optimistic his homeland can snuff out the threat the 27-year-old poses – as they did in a 2-2 draw in over in Warsaw back in October – if they starve him of service and concentrate on for the full 90 minutes.

“With a top striker like Lewandowski, with the movement he has, if you switch off and fall asleep for just a second he will hurt you,” he said. “He will hurt you running in behind, he will hurt you by coming off. He is a massive box of tricks.

"Some games in the Bundesliga are very, very physical. But Lewandowski can certainly cope with that aspect of the game. That is why he can lead the line by himself so well. So he won’t be fazed by any rough treatment.

“The Scotland defenders can’t allow themselves to become distracted from the task of marking him. But Scotland showed they should be able to nullify him the last time they played.”