When Stephen McManus rescued Scotland from an infamous result against Liechtenstein with his last gasp headed winner, it immediately invoked memories of a previous dramatic recovery against an unfancied nation.
In 1989, a World Cup qualifier against minnows Cyprus threatened to head in the same direction. That was until Richard Gough, who had earlier pulled his team level, also scored six minutes into injury time to complete a 3-2 recovery.
But for the Rangers and international stalwart, drawing parallels between the two occurrences should end there. Especially when it comes to managing the expectations of a nation which still sees itself as having a quality squad capable of swatting aside such opposition.
Alongside Gough in the team which came within a whisker of leaving Cyprus without three points were players such as Alex McLeish, Roy Aitken, Paul McStay and Mo Johnston.
Davie Cooper, Gordon Strachan, Gordon Durie and Ally McCoist were also vital components of a squad which had qualified for three out of five of the major tournaments, including two World Cups, during Gough’s in the national squad from 1983 to 1993.
18 years on from Gough’s last involvement on the big stage at Euro 1992, the Stockholm-born defender can only watch on as the current crop try to take the nation to their first tournament since 1998. Yet, despite past glories, he has encouraged supporters to get behind those currently at Craig Levein’s disposal, rather than criticise them for their shortcomings.
“With McManus’ winner, a lot of people said there were similarities between that one and my one 21 years ago against Cyprus,” Gough told STV Sports Centre.
“That was also about the 97th minute. It was an important goal to get us through to the 1990 World Cup. So hopefully this goal proves just as important.
“I think Scottish football fans know we haven’t got the quality of 20 years ago, where we qualified for five in a row. I don’t think it is any good just kicking the team when they are down. We are not in a good place at the moment, having not qualified for 12 years for tournaments.
“I think the team, and the country, need as much encouragement as possible, rather than continually saying we’re not good enough. It’s self-defeating in my view. We can criticise as much as we want but we’re not going to bring the past back.
“We’ve got to re-evaluate our thoughts and give this group as much encouragement as we can to get through to this next stage of the European Championships.”
In qualifying for the 1990 Italian World Cup, Gough’s side had picked up four points from their opening two games, with a draw against eventual group winners Yugoslavia and three points on the road against Norway.
Cyprus in comparison, like Liechtenstein, were viewed as the whipping boys of the group and had already taken three and four goal beatings off of Yugoslavia and Norway, although they had taken a point at home to a French squad very much in transition.
Scotland travelled to Limassol expectant of a result but, despite being in lead thanks to Mo Johnston, goals from Christos Koliandris and Yiannos Ioannou put the hosts in front.
Gough replied with an equaliser with 35 minutes remaining but it looked as though Andy Roxburgh’s team were facing the same fate as France, before the defender popped up again deep into injury time to steal the win.
In the history books though, it simply reads as another vital three points for the Scots on their way to the finals, after pipping the French by a solitary point. The same approach is needed this time around, insists Gough, who believes Levein’s team can reach their play-off target.
“People aren’t going to remember how we played, they will look at the result – 2-1 against Liechtenstein – and they won’t remember how badly we played in the game,” said the 61-times capped player.
“We are at the top of the group now and it was a good result for us Lithuania got in the Czech Republic. No-one was expecting that, so this group is going to go down to the wire.
“Our goal is to get through to a play-off and, if we can make that stage, it would be fantastic.”
For now, the struggle to get a result against a team ranked 141 in the Fifa rankings is still playing on the minds of many, especially with a far trickier double header lying in prospect in October. Scotland travel to play Czech Republic, ahead of a visit from World and European champions Spain to Glasgow four days later.
Gough took in the near-debacle at Hampden and, having had that scare in Cyprus 21 years ago, thought he was about to witness a humiliating result. But, repeating his previous notion, the 48-year-old is adamant the three points were all that mattered.
“I honestly thought Scotland were going to win quite comfortably three or four nil,” said Gough. “But after watching the game for about 15 minutes, I thought ‘this is going to be a little bit trickier than I thought it would be’.
“Liechtenstein, to be fair to them, had some decent players. They kept the ball well. Scotland are never good with banana skins, they always seem to trip up with banana skins. We nearly caught the biggest banana skin of all time against Liechtenstein.
“I am pleased we got the three points but that’s all we’ll take from the game.”
