8 September 2005
dailyrecord
By Keith Mcleod
NORWAY..1 SCOTLAND..2
Walter's glory boys keep World Cup dream alive
SCOTLAND'S World Cup rivals were trembling last night after Walter Smith's shock troops stormed back into contention for a place in the finals in Germany.
Hero Kenny Miller scored twice in the first half hour to earn the Scots a famous 2-0 upset victory over Norway in Oslo.
And despite the disastrous start to the qualifying campaign under Berti Vogts, the win gives us at least a chance of making the finals next year.
The 4000-strong Tartan Army went berserk as Wolves striker Miller slipped home a superbly-worked opener after 21 minutes, then cashed in on a horrific defensive blunder by Norway to stab in the second goal.
The Norwegians were unbeaten in 11 games and highly fancied to win. They managed to snatch a late consolation goal and set up a nail-biting last two minutes,but it was still Scotland's best performance in years.
It brought back memories of the legendary 1981 rant by Norwegian commentator Bjorge Lillelien after his team shocked the football world by beating England in a World Cup qualifier.
Just like the English that day, Norway took " a hell of a beating"last night.
Despite the victory, and Scotland's heroic 1-1 draw against Group 5 leaders Italy at Hampden on Saturday, we still face an uphill struggle to qualify for the World Cup.
We must win our last twogames - against Belarus at home and Slovenia away - to have any chance of making the dream real. And we also have to hope that Norway and Slovenia drop points to get us into second spot in the group, and a play-off against one of the runners-up from the other sections.
Scotland now have 10points from eight games, two points behind last night's opponents.
Despite last night's defeat,only their third in 25 games, Norway remain the favourites to progress. But whatever happens, Smith and his team have given Scotland back its footballing pride.
And as the Scotland fans danced the night away in the Norwegian capital, they could at least dream of doing the same in Germany
