STEVE NICOL does not retain particularly fond memories of the 1986 World Cup.

He is not alone in that regard. Scotland approached the finals with some degree of confidence having finished second in their qualifying group behind Spain and then clinched a ticket to Mexico after overcoming Australia in a two-legged play-off.

The dark cloud that had hung over a nation following the death of Jock Stein had been lifted and, with Alex Ferguson on board as caretaker manager, Scotland flew out to the finals with a feeling that this was going to be the year when they finally made it out the group stage for the first time. Like many of their World Cup adventures before and since, the optimism proved to be somewhat misplaced.

Scotland were pitched into Group E with Denmark, West Germany and Uruguay: the so-called group of death.

Under a baking hot midday sun in the cauldron of the Estadio Neza in the city of Nezahualcoyotl, their aspirations of knock-out football finally expired, strangled in their infancy by a Uruguayan side determined to use whatever means required to prevail.

Ernie Walker, the secretary of the Scottish Football Association, would label the South Americans as "scum" but it was they who made it through to the last 16 while Scotland were again left wondering what might have been as they headed for an early flight home.

If the narrow defeats by Denmark and West Germany in the first two games were hard to take, it was nothing compared to the bitterness and resentment that arose following the goalless draw with Uruguay that confirmed Scotland would finish bottom of the group.

Victory would have meant the Scots qualified as one of the best third-placed teams, but the Uruguayans were determined to make sure they didn't get it, deploying some fairly robust tactics to keep their opponents at bay.

That much became clear as early as the first minute when Jose Batista was sent off for a wild tackle on Gordon Strachan. That setback barely made a difference. Uruguay were able to stifle the frustrated Scots for a further 89 minutes to make it through at their expense.

"The Uruguay game was a bit of a farce," recalled Nicol. "It's one thing when you don't play well, but another when you're just not allowed to play. The worst thing that probably happened was the referee sending the guy off after about a minute because, after that, it was as if he thought he couldn't then send anybody else off. A referee today would probably have had to abandon the game as Uruguay wouldn't have had enough players still on the park to finish it. It was that bad. It actually got to the ridiculous stage with some of their antics.

"When you look back now it would almost have been better if we had played well and lost or only drawn and you could take some consolation from that. We just didn't get the chance to play at all. That's the sickening thing about it.

"They weren't a very good team. They had Enzo Francescoli up front and the rest were just a bunch of guys who were going to defend. That had become clear in their first couple of games. They just sat tight and hoped Francescoli on the break could make something happen or sneak a goal. That was what they were all about."

Scotland barely created a chance but the one they did make fell to Nicol. On Friday the 13th of June, those of a particularly superstitious bent might have had their suspicions that the Scotland No.13 wasn't going to score. Roy Aitken's cross made its way to the back post to Nicol who directed a shot towards the gaping goal. There wasn't enough pace behind it, however, and goalkeeper Fernando Alvez was able to get back and make the save. Nicol, though, looks back on that moment with a sense of equanimity.

"I had that one chance that I made a balls-up of," he admitted. "That was it. Beyond that I don't think we even got close. Did I ever beat myself up about missing that chance? Not at all. S*** happens. There are plenty other things that I did in my career that I could walk about with a big swollen head about if I was that way inclined, but I'm not.

"Would I love to have scored that goal? Absolutely. But that's football. It's certainly not the only chance I ever missed in my career. I missed a good few others! If you're going to beat yourself up about stuff like that then you're in the wrong business."

At least Scotland took a point from that game after two defeats in their opening two games. They were undone by Preben Elkjaer's strike for Denmark in the opening match and then went down 2-1 to West Germany. Strachan had put them in front with a fine finish from Aitken's pass then performed his memorable celebration when he was too wee to leap the advertising hoardings so just rested a leg on the top instead.

"It was disappointing that we didn't get anything from the first game," added Nicol. "Denmark were a good team and we saw that in the matches after but we held our own in the game against them and were probably unlucky to lose. In the Germany game we just got beaten by a better team. It wasn't as if we played particularly badly. We got off to a great start when wee Gordon scored and I thought after that we did okay considering the opposition. But they were just better."

The oppressive Mexican heat took its toll too. "The conditions were hardly ideal for ginger-haired, pale-skinned Scots. You were coming in after the warm-up already shattered and wondering just how the f*** you were actually going to get through a game. The conditions were not conducive to attacking football. You had to pick and choose your moments to exert some pressure or squeeze as it takes time to recover. It was never going to be all-out attack."

That miss against Uruguay wasn't even the worst thing to happen to Nicol in Mexico. A long season with Liverpool had left him with severe stomach pains, the medical advice that a good few weeks' rest would see him right as rain. But this was the World Cup finals and Nicol wanted to play. The end result was the player spending most of the next season on the sidelines.

"I wasn't able to train properly and had pains in my stomach but it's a World Cup so you want to play. When I got back I found out I had a hernia and a torn stomach muscle and at one stage I was crapping my pants as I thought it was going to end my career.

"I missed just about the whole of the next season. So I don't have particularly fond memories of that tournament. We got knocked out in the first round, you miss the chance that could have taken us through, and I made worse an injury that could have ended my career.

"Playing in a World Cup was fantastic but, ultimately, it wasn't one of the finest summers I ever had. That's football: one minute you're up and the next you're under the bed with a chocolate biscuit."