Scotland captain Scott Brown is determined to lead the national team to a first home win of the 2014 World Cup qualifying campaign against Croatia at Hampden Park tonight to prove they are better than their fifth place in Group A suggests.
The Scots have no chance of making the finals in Brazil ahead of the final game of a campaign which never got up and running after a poor start under previous manager Craig Levein. There is renewed optimism after the 2-1 win against Macedonia in Skopje and the 1-0 victory against Croatia in June, an optimism which has withstood defeats by England and Belgium.
Nevertheless, fourth-seeded Scotland are in fifth place, one point behind Wales and one ahead of Macedonia, as they look for their first competitive win in front of their own supporters for two years.
Brown said: “It has been a hard group for us and we have not done ourselves justice. It has not been the best campaign but the last four or five results have proved we are going places. It has been a long time since we had a home win, so it would be good to get one.”