O Flower of Scotland

Despite going into the first leg as the underdogs Oldham Athletic managed to secure a crucial one nil victory away from home. That lead was going to be crucial going into this second leg as they didn't have to chase the game. Tranmere will have to chase it though and it remains to be seen whether they can get by a solid, at times, Oldham Athletic defence. The only change made by Oldham was a forced one as Marvin Kokos was injured so he was replaced by Josh Galloway. Tranmere changed to a 4-2-3-1 tactic this time around and it was Harry Gilmour who was sacrificed to allow Kane Crichlow to start.

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1 minute: Ryan Astley finds Josh Galloway in the centre here and Galloway is on the attack with the ball, he keeps going, he skips past the defenders and looks to do it all alone here... He has! What a fantastic goal from Galloway as he makes the Oldham fans forget about Marvin Kokos as he doubles the aggregate score just a minute into the game.

12 mins: Gevaro Nepomuceno looks to be trying a 'Galloway' here as he goes on a mazy run but he passes Teddy Bishop who lets fly instead but the goalkeeper saved comfortably.

22 mins: Tranmere are knocking the ball about really well here and this would be a great goal if they could get something from it. Kane Crichlow looks to make that happen as he plays a neat through ball to Jordan Roberts who has to score here... But no, Zak Mills blocks the shot and Josh Wilson-Esbrand clears it.

24 mins: Zak Mills picks up the first booking of the game here as he goes in hard on Jordan Roberts.

33 mins: Teddy Bishop has the ball here and he sees Nepomuceno running free on the left and duly provides him with the ball. Nepomuceno is baring down on the goal mouth here... Ohh what a hit by the Frenchman! Nepomuceno blasts the ball past the goalkeeper and trebles his sides lead.

44 mins: Ben Davis will take this corner for Tranmere, he floats it in to the box, Sid Nelson gets his head to it but Gary Woods charges down the shot and a six yard box scramble ensues before Wilson-Esbrand hacks the ball of the line and clears.

Half time: Oldham Athletic take a two nil lead into the break and they look mightily comfortable here.

46 mins: Jordan Roberts steps up to take a free kick given away almost immediately in to the second half. He looks like he's going to hit this one from long range, he does and he blasts and high and wide.

58 mins: Rob Hunt becomes just the second player to pick up a booking in this game as he goes in hard on Gary Madine out wide.

67 mins: Oldham will make the first substitution of the game here as the booked Mills comes off for Tommie Hoban.

68 mins: Tranmere follow suit not long after and it's Harvey Gilmour on for Jordan Roberts.

73 mins: It looks like wing kings Galloway and Nepomuceno will both be withdrawn here with Nathan Roberts and Darnell Baxter-Alleyne replacing them. The match winners go off to a rousing standing ovation by a near eleven thousand capacity crowd.

77 mins: Tranmere have a corner here and it's with Harvey Barnes who floats one in to the box but Danny Perry clears, or does he, the ball lands at the feet of Rob Hunt who smacks the ball past Gary Woods. Could they?

84 mins: Barnes will step up to take another corner now as Tranmere continue to take the game to Oldham. Barnes whips it in here and Gary Woods goes flying to the ground as Stefan Payne takes advantage to score!
85 mins: Wait, it's been disallowed for a foul on Woods. That's a let of for Oldham who really must focus now.

Full time: The referee blows his whistle and it's all over for Tranmere as they crash out of the playoffs. Oldham Athletic go through to the final after a tense finish to the game surely had them worried. They will face Crawley who beat Walsall one nil in both legs to secure their place in the final too. Wembley here they come!

Oldham Athletic were dealt a huge blow going into this game with the news that midfielder Teddy Bishop would miss out through injury and to compile the misery on them Nathan Thomas was also ruled out whilst Danny Perry was called up to the England under twenties who wouldn't allow him to finish the season first. This meant that Oldham would be without two key starting players however, they still remained the bookies favourite to win.

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3 mins: Crawley are on the first big attack of the game here and David Sesay receives the ball from William Hondermarck out wide and then finds Gyliano Van Velzen inside the box. Van Velzen strikes it first time but Gary Woods gets to it and puts it out for a corner.

4 mins: Vashon Neufville steps up to take the corner, whips it in and finds Tom Cannon but the striker heads it over the bar. A good early opportunity there.

6 mins: Cannon looks to be a bit of a menace early on here as he lines up another shot but again Woods gets to it and puts it by for a corner. Oldham are under the cosh here.

7 mins: Neufville again takes the corner and this time he floats it in towards Hondermarck who smashes his header past Woods and into the goal. Crawley have the lead!

8 mins: Sesay crosses the ball into the box for Denzeil Boadu here and he's tripped by Ryan Astley. Penalty!

10 mins: Hondermarck steps up to take the penalty... And scores his second of the game. Oldham have a moutain to climb as Crawley sail into a two goal lead.

15 mins: Crawley are all over Oldham here and Cannon finds Hondermarck in the box... He's scored a hat-trick! This is getting ridiculous now.

18 mins: Ryan Astley plays a great ball over the top her for Tyrese Campbell who takes a touch and shoots... But he puts it wide.

26 mins: Ryan Astley has made a costly mistake here as he misses the long ball over the top and Boadu is away now will he score? Yes he will, four nil.

27 mins: Christopher Burns looks like he's signalling for a change of tactic here and it's definitely needed. Not quite clear the exact formation that he's wanting but it looks like Rory Hale has been asked to drop back while the full backs have pushed forward a bit.

28 mins: Tommie Hoban is signalling for Gary Madine to bomb ahead as he plays the long ball over the top for the striker, he finds him and he scores!

35 mins: Christopher Burns is crying out for some passion from his team on the sidelines here.

Half time: It's half time and Crawley have annihilated their opponents in that first half. Oldham will be ashamed of their performance so far they really must come out fighting in the second half to avoid any further embarassment.

47 mins: Adria Bernabe will come on to make only his second appearance for Oldham since signing on loan from Manchester City. He will replace Mohamed Maouche who has been disappointing in Teddy bishop's place.

55 mins: Gary Madine has the ball on the left wing now and he finds Gevaro Nepomuceno inside the box and he lets fly at goal but the goalkeeper puts it past the post for a corner.

56 mins: Josh Galloway steps up to take the corner and he tries to whip it in but can't get past the first defender who clears it immediately.

74 mins: Oldham are looking to make a last ditch attempt at getting something from the game here as they go with three at the back, two in the middle, three in attacking midfield and two up front. Tom Hamer replaced Zak Mills at the back and Cameron Hill comes on for Wilson-Esbrand.

84 mins: Oldham can do little but huff and puff here as Crawley stand tall and fight off any attack.

Full time: It wasn't to be for Oldham who fought so hard over the past seven or eight months to get this far. Crawley were just too good in the opening half hour here and then they just held out for the win knowing that they had pretty much done what was required. A shame for Oldham Athletic and their manager Christopher Burns who looked completely dejected at the full time whistle in what was likely to be his final game in charge of the club after rejecting several offers to renew his contract with the club.

After promotion from The Nations League group two the last time they were in the competition Scotland knew that it was going to get a lot tougher this year. What they didn't expect was the group of death which they were drew in! They will have another face off with Auld Enemy England and can perhaps look at that as a match to gain points from after beating them in Euro 2020 a couple of years ago. The Germans would be the hardest test by far and it will be near impossible to get anything from those games. The final team was Poland who are also a top, top side. It doesn't help matters that Scotland have been on a bit of bad form of late. Their manager Christopher Burns has also come under fire for continuously taking club jobs that take his focus away from the international one.

As tough a start as can be asked, Scotland will face England in their first match of the Nations League and will follow that up with an away trip to Germany. After a couple of their players missed out through injury during their last World Cup qualifying matches it would've been a relief for the fans and the manager to see Callum Paterson, Callum McGregor and James Forrest return. These players were handed their returns at the expense of Stephen O'Donnell, Stuart Armstrong and Matt Ritchie. Scotland were going to need their best players fit and ready for a tough couple of games.

Scotland were looking to make a good start to the Nations League and put the heartbreak of World Cup qualification failure behind them. With a major rivalry being the match that kicked it all off they would have to get off to really turn up on the day. It wasn't the best spactacle that's been seen at Hampden but there was absolute euphoria when Arsenal centre back Scott McKenna bulged the English net from outside the box after Forrest laid him off after a corner broke to the edge of the box. Throughout the game it was Scotland who remained the most potent threat as England spectacularly failed to turn up for the match against their rivals once again. Match winner McKenna was also the man of the match in this game as he was as good at the back as his goal was at the other end.


After a triumphant victory over England in their opening match Scotland kept the faith in the team that done so as they named an unchanged side to face Germany. Germany made a few changes after losing to Poland in their opening game using a very defensive set up. They changed the set up going into this one and played with a more orthodox 4-2-3-1 formation. They also made a few changes to the line up as a result. It didn't take long for the overwhelming favourites to show their class as Niklas Sule got them off to a quick start with his goal coming after just four minutes. That was followed up by goals from Leroy Sane, Timo Werner and Felix Udoukhai who put the Germans four nil up less than twenty minutes into the game. Sensing a humiliating victory Christopher Burns looked to limit further goals and adopted a more defensive/counter strategy. Ryan Fraser pulled one back five minutes later. At half time Scott McTominay and Ryan Christie were subbed for Callum McGregor and Ross McRorie as Scotland switched to a 4-5-1 formation. The changes certainly seemed to stifle the Germans in the second half but didn't do anything towards sparking a fight back in the game and the game finished four one. England beat Poland two one in the other match up in this group today.

Unlucky in the play off final. Were you not tempted to stay on and make a push over the course of a full season?

Christopher Burns has named an unchanged squad for these Nations League games against Poland and Germany. The squad is perhaps the strongest available to him and he'll be hoping they can show the quality that seen them beat England last time as opposed to the performance put in against Germany. That win over England pushed the national team back up the twenty-fifth in the world rankings after they had slipped down from twentieth to twenty-eighth in recent times. Rangers youngster James Taylor has started the season in fine form with seven goals in as many games and he'll be hoping he's done enough to start ahead of Oliver McBurnie and Jason Cummings.

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Leckuno;
Cheers mate! I really was tempted to stay on but I thought I could maybe get a job higher up the leagues but it wasn't to be. If they did go up I would definitely have stayed.

With their group really up in the air going into the final two games of the campaign Scotland have every chance of going top if they can pull off another set of shock results. In a blow to their chances Ryan Fredericks, John Souttar and Andrew Robertson would miss the England game through suspension. Fredericks was also carrying an injury so the decision was made to leave him out of the squad alongside Ryan Fraser and Ryan Porteous who were also injured. Their defensive options took a real battering and that meant fringe players Stephen O'Donnell and Liam Lindsay would be given a chance to impress. Fraser's replacement was a bit of a shock as young Celtic winger Derek Bremner was called up. The eighteen year old is on loan at Hibernian after an impressive loan with Livingston last year. He set up five and scored five goals in twenty odd appearances for Livi last season and has a goal and an assist and three appearances for Hibs so far this season. It has been a good breakthrough for the youngster and this call up will do wonders for the pacey winger.

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In the first of their crucial next two games Scotland were missing several regular starters which meant Kieran Tierney started at left back, Stephen O'Donnell started at right back and Liam Lindsay started at centre back. James Taylor was also handed the task of leading the line ahead of Oliver McBurnie and Derek Bremner was handed a shock start ahead of James Forrest in the only changes that weren't forced. Taylor is the most in form of the two strikers whilst Forrest was apparently jaded. This Auld Enemy clash was much different to the last as England dominated from start to finish. However, it still took them an hour to get the first goal through John Stones. They followed that up immediately though as Ryan Sessegnon double the lead minutes later. With the game looking done John McGinn hit a wonder strike past Jordan Pickford to give Scotland some hope but despite a late push for a goal it wasn't to be. England had secured top spot meaning the others had to fight it out for the best of the rest as they all looked to avoid relegation. Germany beat Poland in the other game in this group which levelled them on points with Scotland and just one behind Poland.


It was the turn of Kieran Tierney to be suspended for this game but as Andrew Robertson was available there was no issue with that. John Souttar returned for Liam Lindsay whilst James Forrest, Mikey Johnstone and Oliver McBurnie were started ahead of Derek Bremner, Ryan Christie and James Taylor. Poland were the favourites for this tie on their soil after beating Scotland on their's last time out. As it turned out, Scotland would be the better side throughout this game but they couldn't get a result that they needed and were relegated from Division A after defeat. Poland took control of the game through Krzysztof Piatek's quickfire double inside twenty minutes and never really looked back. Scotland were given brief hope when James Forrest scored from the penalty spot after Bartosz Bereszynski gave it away and was sent off. Despite the extra man advantage and the switch to two strikers up top Scotland couldn't convert their chances.

That's got to hurt, losing out to England from two quickfire goals followed by relegation from Div A. Interesting to see how Germany ended up, falling behind Poland despite a decent finish to the campaign.

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Jack;
It did but I honestly wasn't expecting anything from the entire group so to actually have beaten England and Germany was a pleasant surprise. Germany were playing a mad formation and lost against myself and Poland using it, that's just the two matches that I know of, didn't check the others.

Now that is a very kind draw indeed, Scotland might just have a chance!

Scotland, forever in England's shadow.