The Scotland 1999 cliffhanger that serves as ultimate Faroe Islands warning ahead of World Cup qualifying clash

Kevin Gallacher recalls Scotland's horror in the North Atlantic in 1999 that left Craig Brown's side with a mountain to climb.

It began with the Scotland bus missing the team hotel because it had a camouflage roof.

By the end of the ill-fated trip to the Faroe Islands in 1999 it was the Scots squad who wanted to go into hiding.

Much has been written about Berti Vogts’ side who slumped to a shocker of a 2-2 draw in Toftir in 2002.

But three years earlier Craig Brown ’s players suffered the same embarrassing fate against a part-time team made up of fishermen and tradesmen.

In the wind-swept clifftop village the Euro 2000 qualifying dream was blown way off course with a 1-1 draw that still ranks among the worst in Scottish football history.

That the June 1999 humbling came almost exactly a year after Brown’s men had opened the World Cup Finals against Brazil in front of a global TV audience of a billion just serves to make it all the more galling for Kevin Gallacher who played in both matches.

Gallacher led the line with goalscorer Allan Johnston that day and freely admits Brown’s boys simply never took the opposition seriously.

And even though a different venue, with a slick plastic pitch, awaits on this occasion, the former Blackburn, Newcastle and Dundee United star insists the memory of those torrid trips to Toftir must serve as a warning to Steve Clarke ’s side as they hunt down three precious World Cup qualifying points this evening.

Gallacher said: “It was a case of planes, ferries and buses just to get to the hotel.

“And after all that the bus driver went right past the hotel because it had a grass roof to keep the heat in for the winter. He couldn’t find it because it was camouflaged into the landscape!

“I suppose that was a sign of things to come.

“The pitch on that cliff top was bumpy and it was really windy - a bit like Pittodrie on a bad day.

“But seriously it was much worse. It was basically a farmer’s cow field.

“They don’t play there now thankfully but Scotland went back to that cow field three years later under Berti Vogts and we’ve never been very successful at it.

“It was a sorry event and I remember thinking ‘I don’t want to come back here too quickly’.

“If we’re honest I think we underestimated what the Faroes were going to be like. The pitch was a bit of a leveller.

“It was like a non-league side had drawn a top SPL side in the cup. We turned up and probably our heads weren’t in it.

“Craig Brown had us prepared as he always did. But mentally, individually and collectively we just weren’t at the races.

“Players were getting frustrated as the game wore on. Big Matt Elliott got sent off just before half time and despite leading 1-0 we were up against it in the second half.

“We couldn’t break them down and get a second and, of course, they hit us with a sucker punch equaliser.

“We were there to be shot at. We knew we were going to get stick because there was no denying we’d had a bad game.

“It was a lesson of how difficult it can become when you go down to 10 men at international level no matter who you are playing against.”

Despite the Faroes flop, Brown’s Scotland side recovered to finish second in their qualifying group and set-up a play-off with England for a spot at Euro 2000.

Twenty-one years on Gallacher is confident Clarke’s Scots can clinch the same outcome - minus the embarrassment in the North Atlantic.

The man who scored nine times in 53 appearances for his country has been impressed with the attacking flair of the current crop even if they still miss a proven goalscorer.

But he says they must start tonight’s encounter the way they finished Saturday’s 3-2 win over Israel. If they do Gallacher reckons Scotland will blow the Faroes away.

He said: “Scotland has a habit of doing things the hard way. Look at the Israel game the other night.

“But with the quality Scotland have - and showed in the second half on Saturday - then if they play to that level I don’t think the Faroes will live with them.

“They will be far too fit and will run them down.

“The reaction Steve got from his players in the second half was magnificent. The tempo they played at was impressive and if they can start like that then the game should become easier for us.

“But typical Scotland we do it back to front.

“I’d like to have seen Lyndon Dykes and Che Adams link up better. Che was quiet. In games before that Lyndon has been quiet.

“With Che missing I’d like to see Ryan Christie going in beside Dykes.

“He can play that number 10 role and can drop into midfield as well as driving forward. He was excellent floating around Dykes when he came on against Israel.

“Attacking wise the squad is very good. It’s more the lapses in defence that are a worry. If we can find the keys to lock the back door then it’s a right good side.”