rovers271194

Squad for the friendlies away to Croatia and then the Czech republic. Without Keiran Tierney, Oli Burke and Billy Gilmour. Brought in Aidan Fitzpatrick who has had a full season on loan on the championship from Norwich and done well. Also hopefully and answer to my striker problems with Taylor. Not yet started a league game for Everton but has 4 goals in 4 sub appearances so hopefully he will become a regular for them.

Well we have done it. Fine margins. Really feared that 96th minute goal had done us to be honest but absolutely brilliant to qualify from that group

Well here we go. Can't see anyway this can go in our favour but here we go. Glorious failure here we come Well well. What an amazing first half. Only a great save right on half time stopped it being 4. Can't believe we are 45 minutes away from the world cup Absolute chaos. Ukraine back to 3-3 with 2 cracking goals before John McGinnn popped up with a late "winner" Absolutely devastated. Can only hope we scrape through in 2nd place

This is the table of 2nd placed teams. Looking good that a 2nd place finish would do the job but we need to beat Ukraine. Didnt think it was going to come down to this but thats where we are at. Shit. Actually looking at it a point might be enough to beat Belgium on head to head. Win the game and we are there anyway so will aim for that

Well we come to Georgia away. It's giving me bloody nightmares but surely after a 10-0 home win we have to win here. Will also have one eye on the other game in the group Well far better than expected and more comfortable than hoped. Some cracking goals in there Ryan Christie has been absolutely brilliant and is now up to 11 international goals. Incredibly Oliver Burke has scored 15 The last game against Ukraine is going to be nerve wracking. Probably up there with Italy at Hampden

Pretty much same again squad wise. Hopefully another Belgium and Ukraine can take points off each other to make the last game slightly easier to prepare for

Back to pretty much full strength i think. Another big 90 minutes Straightforward first half but feel we should be better than 1-0. Glad to get another couple of goals as was starting to get very concerned but glad to come through that. Georgia away next

Should be a matter of how many so hopefully we can get a few to close the goal difference on Ukraine. Given Lewis Ferguson his first start Pretty straightforward first half. Probably should have had more but the goalkeeper has been brilliant Another 3 goals and happy with easy win. Armenia up next and 3 points is a must. Belgium and Ukraine both had high scoring wins but Ukraine still have to face ourselves and Belgium. We have a great chance here

Squad for San Marino and Armenia. Nothing less than 6 points will do. Brought back John McGinn but left Gilmour with the U21's for the moment.

4 games to go and very tight at the top. Would have bitten your hand off to be in this position before the start

Remained pretty much same as but Fraser in for Johnston as not fully fit. Got a bad feeling about this Pretty quiet half time with little clear cut chances. Getting away from this with a point would be great but will be difficult 30 seconds into the 2nd half and Ryan Christie has just scored a beauty. Running from his own half and beating 3 players to score What an absolutely brilliant result. Can't believe we have gone to Belgium and won. Had a couple of late one on ones that could have sealed it and made the last few seconds more bearable. Brilliant result and really puts qualification in our own hands

Once again i'm starting striker less but hopeful that Ryan Christie can hold the ball up better than Griffiths can. Hopeful of Mcginn and Gilmour being back for the next squad. Very happy with the first half performance. Struggled to keep possession for the first few minutes and Ukraine had a few chances. Harry Stone has had a great first half with a couple of great saves. 2nd half started the same as the first with another great save from Stone. Very impressed with him. Disappointed at the collapse but fingers crossed we can go on from here

Squad for Ukraine and Belgium away. The biggest double header in the group by a mile Missing john McGinn again and really could have done with him for these games. Going to be very difficult but taking something in Ukraine would be great but very difficult. We have both been scoring goals so hopefully finish 0-0 to save my stress.

John McGinnn missing and he is £28.5M

Georgia at home which should be 3 points but Belgium are hosting Ukraine. Really need a Belgium win First half has gone well. Belgium also 2-1 up against Ukraine so hopefully top of the group by the end of the night Brilliant 2nd half. cant believe we racked up double figures. could have been more too. What the pic doesn't show is that Aaron Hickey scored a hattrick and it was 3 of the best goals you will see. Right back position sorted and striker seems to be sorted for the time being although I still think Christie is better at AMC but Gilmour might have something to say about that. Belgium beat Ukraine 3-1.

So gone pretty much the same except McGinn coming back into the midfield. Absolute must win Flying start. Burke with the rabona cross and Christie with the goal after a minute. Great first half, might send this team to Steve Clarke. Aaron Hickey has been amazing and could be the answer to the right back position and Christie could be the striker that I need. Disappointing not to add to the goals in the 2nd half but happy with the win. Ukraine have scored another 6 away to Georgia.

So time for the next qualifiers. Armenia and Georgia at Hampden and it needs to be 6 points. Still no Fraser so pretty much same as. Griffiths playing in Russia now and scoring goals but will start with Christie if fit. Just seen that Ukraine put 9 past Armenia too. 19 goals in 2 games is a bit scary.

Well San Marino away next. Need a few goals as Ukraine put 10 past them. Mixed things up a bit and got some youth in the team. It surely cant backfire Ryan Christie up front comes up trumps with a goal after 15 seconds and then a hattrick before half time. This could work but it is only San Marino. Happy enough with that at half time but would like a few more in the 2nd half. Belgium and Ukraine both winning 2nd half a bit disappointing but great to see Billy Gilmour score on his debut

Greg Taylor now pulled out through injury so brought in Aaron Hickey as a replacement. Hopefully not needed for Belgium game. So this is the team I've gone with for the match. Feel this is a bit of a free hit so hopefully we can take them by surprise. Ah shite just what I worried would happen. Andy Robertson pulled up after 20 mins so moved Tierney to left back and Chris Cadden comes on at right back. Dominant first half but not from Belgium. Not created too many clear chances but keeping Belgium quiet. Really crying out for a striker. Ukraine 6-0 up against San Marino at half time so already against it goal difference wise Well I would have taken a draw before hand but disappointed in the end to only draw. Oli McBurnie hit the bar late on but promising start. Need Belgium to go and win in Ukraine

Disappointingly we have lost both John McGinn and Ryan Fraser to injury. It really is slim pickings. Have high hopes for an 18 year old goalkeeper at Hearts who has played a full season so hopefully he continues to progress. On the striker front I have no one who has scored more than 11 goals all season so far and that's Ryan Christie who I need elsewhere. Might be something to try though. Billy Gilmour looking good though so called him up and might play him against San Marino

Hopefully get off to a good start in the group but looks a difficult 2nd half of fixtures. Good to end at home to Ukraine but once again away to Georgia at a crucial time. The double header in September will be massive hopefully. Feel that to remain in the job I will need to get out of this group

So that's the World cup draw made. Happy with most of it but Ukraine will be tricky and obviously we need to do better in Georgia. Hopefully Belgium will run away with the group and we can battle it out with Ukraine.

We won a hard fought game against Romania 2-1 at Hampden (sorry I forgot to screenshot it) Olly burke is fast becoming my right wionger of choice ahead of of Forrest at the moment and Mikey Johnston has been great on the left. Really need a right back and a striker to become a great team. Promotion to group A is a nightmare really as we are still 40 odds in world rankings and losing more games wont help that

Win this match to win promotion to group A. Not ready for that at all but the win would be a good seeding boost for the world cup draw

Absolutely devastating. Its like watching Scotland for real. Could have gone either way so not to disappointed but Bale is a dick.