It was an impressive display by Scotland in Skopje yesterday. I'm talking about the variety of headgear sported by our fans in the Gradski stadium. We'll get to the football later, sadly.
There were the usual tammies and toories and hats of a Scottish military nature which must have been hot and sweaty in the 100-degree heat. But nothing compared to one supporter's Russian army-style furry bunnet except maybe the leather Viking helmet, complete with horns, favoured by another.
The more sensible wore little umbrellas. Many of the hatless wore their Scotland tops on their heads to evade the relentless sun.
One fan, caught in close-up on Setanta, had his jersey on wimple-style and looked uncannily like Mother Teresa, a native of Skopje.
Another well-known Macedonian is Alexander the Great, not be confused with the Scottish full-back, Alexander the Decidedly Average.
The disappointment of Scotland's first faltering step in this World Cup is huge. Our thrilling run in the 2008 Euro qualifiers is a dream to us now.
I was left feeling a bit sick and let down and my investment was merely to go up the road and watch the game on the comfort of my pal's sofa. Some members of the Tartan Army had flown to Sofia, where they were ripped off by Bulgarian bus bandits who had taken their money to get them to Macedonia but left them stranded.
Having made their way to Skopje and bought tickets for the match, they were turned away by the polis who would not let Scottish fans into the Macedonian end. Even, apparently, the Scots who had put on fake tan and tattered jeans in a vain bid to look local.
The best ploy might have been to dress as Bob the Builder to gain access to the construction site that is the Gradski Stadium.
Meanwhile, on the park, Scotland made a thoroughly ordinary team look good. Our midfield, largely consisting of players who have been turning in constipated performances for Celtic, passed the ball sideways and backwards for the entire first half. The final pass was usually an aimless high ball from a defender for McFadden and Miller to chase in the sweltering heat.
When manager George Burley said after the game that "we sat off them" he was not wrong. When the manager made the amazingly astute tactical decision to play the game in their half of the pitch, matters improved considerably. Our number eight began to look almost like the attacking Scott of Hibernian of distant memory.
Even in attacking mode, Scotland failed to measure up. Burley said his team were outstanding in the second half. For too much of the game our players were merely out there standing. To be fair to Burley, he did not take refuge in excuses. So I will do it on his behalf. I blame the Macedonian FA for making us play in the heat of the afternoon.
I blame the ball boys who made our players fetch and carry stray balls for themselves. Mostly I blame the work-experience Czech referee for being duped into awarding that free-kick. And for failing to spot two stonewall penalties in the space of 10 seconds.
If little blame is being attached to our new manager, that is only because the gentlemen of the press are sharpening their stilettos for use in the event that Burley's boys fail to gub Iceland on Wednesday. We are only one game into the qualifiers but already prospects look bleak. We gave Macedonia a goal of a start, as is the Scottish way. We have given all our opponents in Group Nine three points of a start.
I notice that New Caledonia are already out of the 2010 World Cup after a 3-1 defeat by New Zealand yesterday.
Old Caledonia will suffer similar failure unless the listlessness of our performance against Macedonia is addressed.
There is a new generation of Scotland fans who have not seen their team qualify for a World Cup or Euro finals. Us auld yins, living on reveries of previous qualifications, are hoping for a trip to South Africa to top up the memories. It may still come to pass. But only if Scotland pass forward and not sideways.
Why are you making commenting on The Herald only available to subscribers?
It should have been a safe space for informed debate, somewhere for readers to discuss issues around the biggest stories of the day, but all too often the below the line comments on most websites have become bogged down by off-topic discussions and abuse.
heraldscotland.com is tackling this problem by allowing only subscribers to comment.
We are doing this to improve the experience for our loyal readers and we believe it will reduce the ability of trolls and troublemakers, who occasionally find their way onto our site, to abuse our journalists and readers. We also hope it will help the comments section fulfil its promise as a part of Scotland's conversation with itself.
We are lucky at The Herald. We are read by an informed, educated readership who can add their knowledge and insights to our stories.
That is invaluable.
We are making the subscriber-only change to support our valued readers, who tell us they don't want the site cluttered up with irrelevant comments, untruths and abuse.
In the past, the journalist’s job was to collect and distribute information to the audience. Technology means that readers can shape a discussion. We look forward to hearing from you on heraldscotland.com
Comments & Moderation
Readers’ comments: You are personally liable for the content of any comments you upload to this website, so please act responsibly. We do not pre-moderate or monitor readers’ comments appearing on our websites, but we do post-moderate in response to complaints we receive or otherwise when a potential problem comes to our attention. You can make a complaint by using the ‘report this post’ link . We may then apply our discretion under the user terms to amend or delete comments.
Post moderation is undertaken full-time 9am-6pm on weekdays, and on a part-time basis outwith those hours.
Read the rules hereComments are closed on this article