Scottish Football Association president Campbell Ogilvie expects Scotland to go all out to claim another high-profile scalp in next week’s friendly against England as they seek to edge further up the rankings again.
The Scots’ hopes of qualification for next year’s World Cup finals in Brazil were dashed early on after a string of poor results and they had failed to win a single game in the group until June’s impressive victory over Croatia.
Ogilvie believes Gordon Strachan’s men will treat the clash at Wembley just as seriously as any competitive outing as they aim for a repeat of that result.
He said: “At the moment, there are no friendlies as far as we are concerned. Having not qualified for the tournament, we are looking to get results in all the games and to start moving back up the rankings.
“I don’t think anyone has to be wound up for a game against England.”
Ogilvie would love to see Scotland claim victory over England and demonstrate they are moving in the right direction.
However, he believes getting to a position where the national team is capable of qualification for major finals again is more important than bragging rights.
He added: “There have been a lot of notable results down the years. My first game I ever saw at Wembley was a 3-2 win for Scotland in 1967, which was against the odds.
“We obviously want to win against England, our old rivals. But, moving forward, we want to qualify for campaigns and we are disappointed we are out of the tournament at this early stage.
“In relation to next week’s game, we go into every game confident of getting a positive result.
“The players will give it 100%. You always need a wee break in any match and we are certainly looking forward to the game with some confidence.”
Ogilvie believes the victory in Zagreb can only help boost the confidence ahead of the meeting with England.
He said: “It’s a big plus because we’d had a run of poor results up until then and it was a major result for an away game.
“It’s just regrettable that we were out of contention by that stage but to get any away win against that quality of opposition is a major plus.”
The Tartan Army will descend on London in vast numbers and Ogilvie says supporters also have a big role to play at club level to help those in trouble.
Rangers were forced to call in the administrators before liquidation was confirmed last year, while Hearts and Dunfermline are both in administration.
Ogilvie said: “Nobody wants to see clubs in difficulty. We’ve now got the Scottish Professional Football League operating and we should be concentrating on taking the game forward.
“We can’t dispute the fact there are some clubs having difficulties at the moment. In all these situations, it’s the supporters who are the main people who suffer.
“It’s also fair to say it is the supporters who will sustain these clubs. But the ones you feel for are the supporters of the clubs.”