Scotland qualify for their fifth consecutive World Cup. Finishing second in the group probably reflects their standing: behind the impressive Yugoslavians, but ahead of the French, who struggled to find form before it was too late.

There were plenty of goals in Scotland’s qualifiers, 24 all in all (12 for and 12 against). Mo Johnston was the second top goal scorer in the European qualification, and the partnership between him and McCoist proved a vast success. They always looked like a team with goals in them, and continued creating chances in every game – even the 3-0 defeat in Paris could easily have gone otherwise. 

But this was also a side that was shipping goals. They conceded three times in both the away games against their fiercest rivals, Yugoslavia and France, during autumn 1989. Against Yugoslavia, they had crumbled to a long-lasting pressure to concede three times within the space of six minutes, revealing a very nervous defence. The big weakness in this respect was not necessarily only the four at the back, but perhaps more significantly the midfield bank of four.

Remarkably, 6 of the 12 goals that Scotland let in resulted from set-pieces. There is no question that there was plenty of aerial abilities in the team (McLeish, Gough etc.), they evidently struggled to pick up their men and continued leaking goals in these situations throughout the qualification.