IT is fair to say that the name of Pierluigi Benedettini doesn't resound in the annals of international football.

And for that, Gordon Strachan is truly thankful. But the Scotland boss will always shudder when he thinks of the plucky amateur San Marino goalkeeper, who spent his days driving a bus around the little landlocked enclave on the Italian mainland.

Andy Roxburgh's Scotland were goalless against the minnows in Serravalle in May 1991 with more than an hour played when Pat Nevin earned a penalty. And who should step up to take the kick but the skipper and future national team boss. He scored, Scotland won 2-0 and went on to clinch Euro 92 qualification.

However, the queasiness Strachan felt in the pit of his stomach that night helps guard against complacency as the national team look ahead to their next Group D assignment, at home to Uefa's newest team, Gibraltar, on March 29.

"They're funny games, these ones," said Strachan. "It's at the back of your mind that you should win it but there's always the wee devil on your shoulder telling you 'this could be a long night'.

"I remember going to San Marino with a good Scotland side and we never scored until the 63rd minute. We got a penalty and someone luckily scraped it into the back of the net. And by the way, that's the biggest pressure I've ever had, taking a penalty against a bus driver from San Marino. I'm serious. You'd be remembered for the rest of your life, missing that. I'm sure Gary McAllister would have enjoyed it if I'd missed it."

So eager are Scotland to learn the lessons of these occasions that Strachan will play a friendly, in all likelihood against Northern Ireland on Thursday, March 26, as preparation. Under the convoluted algorithm which Fifa uses to work out these things, defeat against the side managed by Michael O'Neill could be damaging in our efforts to reach Pot Two for World Cup qualif-cation, but the Scotland manager feels it would be a worthwhile

"We'll have a look at it next week when I get back up the road, to see what's the best way to go about it," he said. "There are people waiting to play us, but we have to decide if it's going to be beneficial to the squad. Most international sides, everyone's on an even keel with the games they've played. We have a weird squad, in that some players have played loads of matches and some hardly any."

Weighing up the strain on his players' bodies' will become even more crucial for the match - assuming Scotland can take care of Gibraltar - which is already looming as pivotal in this section: the away fixture against the Republic of Ireland in Dublin on Saturday, June 13. The English championship winds up on May 2, with the play-off final scheduled for May 25, and the Scottish Cup final on May 30. With no fewer than 11 members of his squad currently playing in the Championship, Strachan would like a healthy contingent to be involved in the play-offs, even if the likes of Chris Martin, Johnny Russell, Craig Bryson and Craig Forsyth at Derby County prefer automatic promotion.

"We dealt with it OK at the Croatia game last year, although there was six days of a difference," said the Scotland boss. "But it is a concern, though, because we do have a lot of players in the Champ-ionship when most leagues in the world go on for two or three weeks after that. It gives us something to think about - whether we get an international game to bring the guys who've not played for a while up to speed. That's something we'll have to consider just now."

"That is a tough fixture," agreed Steven Whittaker, of Norwich City, "just with where it has obviously been placed. Different players will have different finishing times. If we get automatic promotion or miss out on the play-offs our last game with Norwich is the second or third of May, so that is a big gap. We might have some kind of training weeks for the guys whose season finishes early, obviously they need to keep themselves ticking over the best they can. So I think there will be a couple of meet-ups here and there, some training weeks to try to get ourselves into shape."

With many Republic of Ireland players in the same boat - their squad last Friday contained three Derby players too - the side which goes in with the best preparation could get a crucial advantage.

"You could say that, but you never know with preparation," said Strachan. "A lot of it comes down to the players. I remember getting to Tottenham one night with Manchester United with 30 minutes to spare after zooming round London on a bus and we had one of our best games of the season. We put our gear on, ran outside and won 2-0."