Born-again Christian a Vogts winner

Iceland 0 Scotland

The grin on Berti Vogts' face at the final whistle told a story, but not the one most people expected. From laughing stock to Lazarus in five weeks, Scotland's embattled manager watched his team exorcise the ghost of the Faroe Islands.

The irony was that one of the two men held responsible for that numbing result which opened the Euro 2004 Group Five qualifying campaign, Christian Dailly, should provide the platform for victory with a seventh-minute goal.

Dailly's partner in crime in Toftir, David Weir, quit under the welter of abuse, but his Everton colleague, Gary Naysmith, showed the spirit the Scots need with a stunning 63rd-minute finish to kill off Iceland.

"What a difference," smiled Vogts later. "Maybe now we are back in the competition. We needed a win and this was a big win for Scotland."

Most remarkable was the number of Scots around the Laugardsvollur Stadium. After the ignominy of the Faroes, it might have been presumed that those who had made their way north had done so to seek asylum rather than live with the shame. However, Reykjavik was awash with tartan. The 2,000 fans were in raucous mood beforehand, and their songs would have been understood by the Iceland coach, Atli Edvaldsson, whose brother Johannes starred for Celtic in the 1970s, while the five English-based players in Edvaldsson's side would have detected a familiar mood of resistance.

Scotland's football history has been characterised by failure against minnows, and overachievement when confronted by superior sides. Since that nadir in Toftir plunged Vogts' side to No 63 in the Fifa rankings, nine behind the Icelanders, who whipped the Czech Republic 3-0 here a year ago, it could easily be stated that the Scots were underdogs.

They sported a new away strip which featured a yellow shirt, though cynics suggested a yellow streak down the back of the traditional navy- blue top would have been more fitting after the near-capitulation in the Faroes.

However, a burning urgency to rewrite the qualification story was evident as Vogts' team quickly hounded Iceland in every area of the pitch. The reward would come quickly.

Steve Crawford's movement troubled Iceland's central defensive pairing of Hermann Hreidarsson and Larus Sigurdsson, who were each forced to concede corners when hemmed in by the Dunfermline Athletic striker.

From the latter, Dailly made the breakthrough. Naysmith's inswinging kick was only cleared to the full-back, who lofted a return to the back post. While the presence of the towering Lee Wilkie preoccupied Sigurdsson, Dailly climbed higher than each of them to plant a downward header past Arni Arason, who had come off his line. That settled Scotland, who looked more comfortable with the 3-5-2 system the players had persuaded Vogts to go for in preference to his favoured flat back four.

The defensive trio of Dailly, Wilkie and Steven Pressley had not played together at international level, and Eidur Gudjonsen took advantage of that unfamiliarity with a dipping free-kick to the front post which was left by every-one to rake across the face of goal. Gudjonsen was then given too much space in the 18th minute to gather a quick free-kick from Rune Kristinsson before thrashing a right-foot shot against the bar.

However, Jackie McNamara was performing a diligent man-marking job on the Chelsea striker and even found time to create another opening for Scotland on the half-hour, when a deft chip found the head of Steven Thompson, whose attempt was touched over by Arason.

Sadly, McNamara succumbed soon after to a thigh injury, but with Barry Ferguson clipping a free-kick over the bar, it was left to the Scots to savour their half-time chat with Vogts, rather than fear it, as had been the case in Toftir.

Those words of comfort certainly sustained Vogts' team. Barely a minute into the second half, they could have doubled their lead. Thompson's flick released Crawford, but a tug of his shirt by Hreidarsson was just enough to undermine the Scot's balance as he shot wide.

Gudjonsen had been given a new partner in Hreidar Helguson and that combination almost produced an equaliser in the 57th minute, when Pressley's brave lunge blocked the Watford player's shot.

It was a pivotal cameo, for six minutes later Naysmith scored his first-ever goal for his country. Callum Davidson's pass was sublimely shuttled on by Paul Lambert to Maurice Ross and the Rangers full-back delivered a waist-high cross which Naysmith deftly killed with his first touch to gain a yard of space, before spinning away to lash a volley with his "wrong foot" ­ the right ­ over Arason.

Iceland 0 Scotland 2
Dailly 7, Naysmith 63

Half-time: 0-1 Attendance: 6,611