SCOTLAND boss Alex McLeish will pin his hopes of beating the Faroes tonight on his new-look strike partnership of Garry O'Connor and Kris Boyd.
The former Hibs front-man and the Rangers forward started an international match together for the first time in a 1-0 friendly victory over Austria in Vienna last week.
O'Connor grabbed the only goal of the game in an impressive performance and w
ith James McFadden, Craig Beattie and Kenny Miller all ruled out of this evening's hazardous trip to the Toftir stadium, the duo will get another chance to impress and stake a regular claim. O'Connor has just been welcomed back into the international fold after going AWOL ahead of a qualifier in Ukraine back in October while Boyd has an impressive scoring record at international level.
And McLeish is confident they can fire Scotland to the three points they need to keep their qualification hopes alive, as well as banishing memories of their last visit to the Faroes in 2002 when only late goals from Paul Lambert and Barry Ferguson rescued a point.
He said: "O'Connor and Boyd have linked up very well. We had all these call-offs and sometimes things fall into your lap, with Garry and Boydie working out well.
"At some stage, we would have been looking to see them in action anyway but it worked out well.
"Garry was on top form after winning the Russian Cup final."
With Scotland already plagued by injury problems ahead of their crucial qualifying clash there was further bad news yesterday when it emerged that captain Ferguson is struggling to prove his fitness for the tie.
The midfielder is a slight doubt for the clash after struggling with a calf strain over the last couple of weeks.
He featured in last week's friendly in Austria and has been given up to an 80 per cent chance of taking part tonight by manager McLeish.
But with McFadden, Beattie and Miller already on the list of sidelined players while Steven Pressley, Russell Anderson, Scott Brown, Ian Turner and Lee McCulloch also failed to travel, the Tartan Army will be keeping their fingers crossed that the influential Ferguson recovers.
The Rangers player said: "I think my calf is all right. I felt it with ten minutes to go. I also felt it in Los Angeles with Rangers the week before. I'm sure it's a strain.
"It's an important game and I want to play every game for Scotland. I'm going to give myself every chance."
Ferguson is one of the few survivors from the last trip to the Faroes, when Scotland were forced to battle back from two goals behind to earn a 2-2 draw on what proved to be a humiliating afternoon.
And the Rangers and Scotland star - who grabbed the equaliser in that game - reckons the tiny North Atlantic archipelago has come as a bit of a culture shock to the newer members of the squad.
He added: "The boys thought that I was at the wind-up when I told them about this place, but I woke up with a sheep at my window this morning.
"It's a tight pitch but that's no excuse. I don't care how we play, as long as we get the three points."
Scotland were Group B leaders at one stage but have slipped to fourth in the table following the weekend results but Ferguson believes maximum points from their next two games will see the Scots back on track for qualification.
He said: "In the next two games if we beat the Faroes and Lithuania, we've got every chance of qualifying. Then we've got Ukraine to play at home and Georgia away and we'll look at the points then.
"There's confidence we can qualify and we're desperate to do it. I'd love it to come down to the Italy game with the fans behind us at Hampden." And McLeish agrees with his captain that his Scotland stars can still cause an upset by qualifying for Euro 2008 - if they take maximum points from their next two matches. "The message is 'Get the job done'. We want a totally professional job. We've got to win the next two games to be in a position. We realistically have to aim for six points.
"The Faroes are defensively organised. They passed it better against Italy than they did against Ukraine.
"They are growing in confidence in their performances and they've scored in their last two games.
"When the Faroes scored a goal two or three years ago, it was hailed as a national treasure. Now they expect to have a couple of chances.
"We respect the Faroes and recognise that they believe they can cause an upset but our players are confident and I like the experience in the team as well."
While Italy's game took place in Torshavn's new Torsvollur Stadium, Scotland will be forced to return to Toftir, the cliff-top venue where they were held to a draw on their last two visits to the Faroes.
McLeish added: "I've said to the players to use the fact that they are taking us up the mountain as extra motivation. The pitch is supposed to be good."
With McCulloch forced to withdraw from the squad after suffering an ankle injury in last week's friendly in Austria, Shaun Maloney is set to start on the left of midfield and McLeish has backed the Aston Villa man to cause problems. He said: "We'll have a change in personnel and a change in style compared to Lee. Shaun Maloney will come in for him.
"He's clever, he's got great feet and he can beat a man. He's also capable of scoring long-range goals coming in off the left side.
"We saw what he did at Celtic and he was player of the year. He's certainly got international credentials."
*SCOTLAND'S inactivity at the weekend saw them slip to fourth in Group B and out to 9/2 with Blue Square to qualify for Euro 2008 but they can keep the pressure on the top three tonight, in Toftir, where they face the Faroe Islands.
The hosts are classed as massive underdogs by Betdaq, who chalk them up at 22/1 to inflict an embarrassing defeat on the Scots. The draw is a 7/1 shot with Premierbet, while Alex McLeish's side are Extrabet's 2/15 favourites.
Eck's troops may have to settle for a narrow victory then and the correct score value subsequently lies in Coral.co.uk's 10/1 for the Scots to notch the game's only goal or VCBet's 11/1 for them to finish on the right side of a 2-1 scoreline.
Kris Boyd will be one of the men handed the task of leading the line and the Rangers marksman will be well backed at 11/4 (Stan James) to notch the opener. Following his goal against Austria, Garry O'Connor is 4/1 with Blue Square to score first, and he's a steal at 11/8 with bet365 to find the net at any stage.
Odds supplied by www.betrescue.com
The full article contains 1194 words and appears in Edinburgh Evening News newspaper.
