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Wembley winner Callum Davidson: St Johnstone’s cup double can be inspiration for Scotland against England

Callum Davidson in action against David Beckham at Wembley.
Callum Davidson in action against David Beckham at Wembley.

He has guided St Johnstone to a logic-defying cup double.

And he was part of the last Scottish team to win at Wembley.

So you won’t find Callum Davidson dismissing Scotland’s chances of getting their Euro 2020 Group D campaign back on track against England.

Craig Brown’s men were written off for the second leg of their European Championship qualification play-off in 1999 after losing 2-0 to the Auld Enemy on home turf in the first leg.

But they dominated the second contest and, even though the 1-0 victory wasn’t enough to see them through to the finals, it was a thoroughly deserved one-off result.

Davidson, who played a part in Don Hutchison’s famous winner, believes that performance should serve as inspiration for Steve Clarke’s side, who went down to a dispiriting opening game defeat to the Czech Republic.

And so too should his St Johnstone side’s against-the-odds Betfred Cup and Scottish Cup glory.

“That Wembley game was the biggest of them all for me,” said the former Blackburn Rovers and Leicester City full-back.

“I grew up watching Scotland-England games. They were special.

“It’s always a huge fixture for me, even if it’s just a friendly.

“It obviously means even more playing against England in a major tournament.

“This is massive for us.

“I was nervous as a player before big games when I was younger but that disappeared when the game started.

“It’s good to have crowds back into the stadiums for the Euros. That definitely helps the players concentrate on their jobs.

“England will be favourites but football is a great game for causing upsets.

“Look at St Johnstone winning two trophies last season.

“You work hard as a group and try to achieve something special.

“Steve will be hammering home the unity of the squad and how they can pull together to get a result.

“We have seen it in the past. Fingers crossed we can do it again.”

Forget about the Czech result

Davidson, who was in Gordon Strachan’s backroom team when Leigh Griffiths nearly secured an amazing comeback win the last time Scotland faced England, is confident there will be no hangover from Monday afternoon’s Hampden anti-climax.

“The games come thick and fast in tournaments so they have to forget about the Czech result,” he said.

“We conceded goals at bad times in that game but we can take confidence from much of the performance.

“We need a result at Wembley. Hopefully we can pull something out of the bag and get through to the next stage.

“Liam Cooper did really well against the Czechs but hopefully Kieran Tierney will be back because he is one of Scotland’s best players.

“Steve will be looking to pick the right team, get the right balance needed to get the result we all want.”

Dejected Scotland boss Steve Clarke walks away after the Euro 2020 defeat to Czech Republic

Davidson believes criticism of the team in the wake of the 2-0 defeat has been over the top and even if the Scots don’t progress to the last 16, their peak has not yet been reached under Clarke.

“This Scotland squad has done so well getting us back to a major tournament,” he said.

“It is what the country was craving. We hadn’t qualified for 23 years remember.

“Expectations have been raised.

“Now I am hearing people going on about losing to the Czechs – to two unbelievable goals.

“We are playing against very good teams. Every game is tough at this level.

“Let’s keep believing and encouraging the players.

“If I was still playing today I wouldn’t be on social media. It can be hard to avoid the negativity.

“I remember from my own days as a player and as an assistant in the game at Hampden how important it is to have that backing from the fans.

“I’m sure they will make themselves heard at Wembley.

“And no matter what happens over the next two games I believe we have a really good young squad to take us forward.”