Berti's Scotland break the ice

Euro 2004: Dailly and Naysmith on target as Vogts scores first meaningful victory at last

Forget all those cruel quips about the struggles ahead against Safeway, Sainsbury's and Tesco in the Supermarket Sunday League; the Tartan Army can forget getting shirty with Berti. Scotland might just have come out of the deep freeze in Iceland with a remarkably confident 2-0 victory.

Berti Vogts' nightmare could be ending after Christian Dailly, one of those cuttingly criticised by Scotland's German coach after the 2-2 draw away to the Faroe Islands, and Gary Naysmith scored the goals that brought him his first notable triumph since taking the helm. The win put the Scots back on track in their tricky European Championship qualifying group, in which Germany are the clear favourites.

Yesterday Vogts was equally eager to praise the West Ham defender's contribution to a promising team performance. "It was a brilliant game for my team and they did well this afternoon and are now back in the competition," the German said. "All things went well in training sessions but we just needed the win and this was a big one for Scotland. The whole team played well but there were also a lot of good wishes for Christian Dailly. For 90 minutes, we concentrated on the game and stayed very close to the opposition."

But if there was one particular hero for Scotland it was Naysmith. It was his ball in after his own corner had been partially cleared that gave Dailly the chance to head home the first goal after seven minutes and he was quick to return to the fray after being carried off in apparent agony 10 minutes before the interval. Just after the hour he burst forward on to Maurice Ross's pass and blasted in the second goal.

Scotland had scares when Chelsea's Eidur Gudjohnsen shot over and also rattled the crossbar, but after Naysmith struck they were largely in control and were spared a tense finish when Larus Sigurdsson sliced wide four minutes from time.

The Everton defender David Weir declined to play in this match for a Scotland side who had slipped to 63rd in the world rankings. When they meet again at Goodison Park, Weir's club-mate Naysmith is unlikely to have to answer the question, "So, did you miss me?"