Football: Scotland enjoy home advantage

The Tartan Army will not need to dig out their passports until the qualifying stages of the 2000 European Championships are well under way after Scotland were handed four of their opening five group games at home.

"There was some tough negotiation but, at the end of the day, we are happy with the way the fixtures turned out," Jim Farry, the Scottish Football Association chief executive, said after a Uefa meeting in Prague yesterday.

"There is a slightly unusual pattern to the fixtures - partly because of the climate problems - with four home matches followed by four aways. But Craig Brown [the Scotland manager] is very pleased to have the run of four homes near the start of the group."

The Scottish forward Scott Booth has been sent on loan by Borussia Dortmund to the Dutch club Utrecht until the end of the season. Since arriving at the European champions last summer from Aberdeen, Booth has made only rare appearances as a substitute, placing his position in the Scotland World Cup squad in doubt.

"I always want to play and I want to go to the World Cup. That's the only reason I'm leaving Dortmund," said the 26-year-old Booth, who is likely to be in Utrecht's line-up today against Feyenoord.

Bobby Williamson, the Kilmarnock manager, has warned his side they must not lose their composure if they want to stay among the challengers at the top of the Premier Division.

The Rugby Park side demonstrated a fear of heights when they lost fourth place after slipping to a 3-2 defeat at Dunfermline last week. Kilmarnock have the chance to reclaim fourth position when they meet St Johnstone at home today - with Williamson warning his players how easy it is to lose momentum.

"I would say we are not in any immediate danger [of slipping], but I would stress the word immediate as we know we must avoid complacency," he said.

"We realise this division is so tight that you can soon find yourself back in trouble, and above all we are trying to cement our place. Our main aim remains getting away from relegation."

The St Johnstone manager, Paul Sturrock, who is determined to prove he was right to reject Hibernian's advances, has agreed a deal which will keep him at McDiarmid Park until 2002.

2000 EUROPEAN CHAMPIONSHIP: Scotland's qualifying fixtures (venues to be annouced): 5 September 1998 Lithuania (h); 10 October Estonia (h); 14 October Faroe Islands (h); 27 March 1999 Bosnia-Herzegovina (h); 31 March Czech Republic (h); 5 June Faroe Islands (a); 9 June Czech Republic (a); 4 September Bosnia-Herzegovina (a); 8 September Estonia (a); 9 October Lithuania (h).