NEW Scotland boss George Burley is intent on stamping his own mark on the national side, insisting on the sort of panache and style which thrilled Hearts fans during his all too short tenure of the Tynecastle hot-seat.
But, much as he would like to see that swaggering play replicated, Burley will realise he'll also need to exercise a fair degree of pragmatism as he attempts to steer Scotland towards the World Cup finals in South Africa in barely two years' time.
He already knows his squad face a stiff task if they are to end a run which has seen this nation absent from the last five major football tournaments.
The bid to rectify that record gets under way two weeks on Saturday, when the qualification campaign begins with a daunting away trip to Macedonia. With the likes of Iceland, Holland and Norway to follow, points will prove hard to come by, but it has quickly become apparent from Burley's first three matches in charge that he'll face the same problems as his predecessors Alex McLeish and Walter Smith in trying to get the team scoring goals.
While that pair, most notably Smith, did much to turn Scotland's fortunes round following the dismal Berti Vogts' years, goals remain very much at a premium at this level, McLeish's ten games offering just 14, six of which came in two matches while, of the 26 scored during Smith's 15-fixture reign, 11 were notched between a Kirin Cup clash with Bulgaria in Japan and a visit from the Faroe Islands.
Having enjoyed a creditable draw with Croatia followed by a 3-1 defeat in the Czech Republic, Burley has now seen his side score just twice in three matches after his apparent first-choice strikeforce of Kenny Miller and James McFadden drew a blank against Northern Ireland.
While that particular pair have netted 24 goals between them in a combined total of 76 appearances in a dark blue jersey, Scotland clearly lack the presence of a striker at this level of the calibre of, say, Fulham's David Healy who has claimed 34 in 65, a total which would look marginally better today had he tucked away the spot-kick offered him at Hampden last night.
Burley persevered with Miller and McFadden throughout the 90 minutes rather than turn to Kris Boyd (seven in 14), or youngsters Steven Fletcher and David Clarkson, who scored on his debut in Prague.
The manager admitted: "James and Kenny lacked that little bit of a cutting edge up front. When you put a team under pressure at home, you need to put the ball in the net, but we lacked that edge we needed to win the game.
"There is still a lot of work to be done on their partnership but they work hard. It takes time for any partnership to form. At home we want to play with two up front and put the opposition under pressure."
Now, Burley admitted, Miller and McFadden may find themselves under pressure, saying when asked if they would retain his confidence for the Group Nine fixtures in Macedonia and Iceland a few days later: "It is something I have to look at.
"They both worked their socks off and did well at times. We were unfortunate not to get a goal in the second half when James had a point-blank effort saved. If that goes in, we win the game and you say the partnership worked."
Burley was referring to a late opportunity when McFadden swivelled onto a Darren Barr flick only to see his Birmingham City team-mate Maik Taylor in the Northern Ireland goal pull off a remarkable save.
That incident apart, however, it was hard to remember the Irish captain being overworked and, indeed, Allan McGregor spared the Scots blushes as he redeemed himself by spectacularly saving Healy's spot-kick after the Rangers star had hauled down Dundee United striker Warren Feeney, who had come on as a substitute.
By that stage Nigel Worthington's side had been reduced to ten men, Manchester City's Ryan McGivern sent off on his debut for hauling back the rampaging Scott Brown having earlier been booked for an injudicious lunge at the Celtic midfielder.
It was, as Burley had pointed out, a night for experimentation in a game for which he was hit by a string of call-offs, having already been denied the services of skipper Barry Ferguson and Tottenham's Alan Hutton, both of whom are recovering from injury and are unlikely to feature in next month's vital outings.
The return of Ferguson, Hutton and the likes of Paul Hartley and Gary Caldwell will obviously strengthen Burley's options but last night was a chance for others to stake their claim. Kevin Thomson, Darren Barr and James Morrison were all handed debuts while Hearts midfielder Michael Stewart donned his country's colours for the first time in six years as he replaced Darren Fletcher for the final 21 minutes.
Not in Burley's original squad, Stewart today admitted he's determined, at the age of 27, to now finally get what many people had predicted would be a long and fruitful international career up and running, revealing he'd won the last of his three caps so long ago even he sometimes wondered if it had ever happened.
He said: "To be honest, I genuinely didn't expect to be in the squad. I'd been asked during pre-season if I was hoping to get back in and I was thinking to myself that I seem to have had the same conversation every pre-season.
"It had got to the stage I was not expecting anything. You just get on with things and thankfully it has come along a bit sooner than I might have hoped."
Stewart learned of his call-up in an early-morning phone call from Hearts managing director Campbell Ogilvie on Monday telling him to report to the team hotel but, acknowledging the fact midfield is probably the strongest area of the Scottish side, he insisted he was taking nothing for granted.
He said: "All I can hope is that I keep up my form for Hearts, maintain the good start I have had and keep knocking on the door."
Like the others on the fringe of Burley's squad, Stewart will only have two or three matches in which to further impress the Scotland boss who, ironically, was in charge of Hearts at a time when Stewart was wearing the green and white of Hibs. However, with injuries and suspensions bound to play a part over the campaign, he insisted he'll be ready if and when the call comes.
He said: "The gaffer (Burley] spoke about staking a claim for a shirt, if you got that chance to take it so hopefully I have not done myself any harm. If I keep doing the business for Hearts then I should be there or thereabouts. If not I won't get too disappointed, I'll keep plugging away and if not this time then hopefully sooner rather than later.
"With a new manager if you are in there from the start you are able to maintain that position a lot more easily rather than trying to fight your way in from the outside. I'm grateful that he's obviously been looking at me, now there's only one thing I can do, concentrate on kicking on from where I have left off with Hearts."
The full article contains 1245 words and appears in Edinburgh Evening News newspaper.
