WILL Scotland go out on a high against Gibraltar on Sunday? Chris Graham (@chrisgraham79) previews the betting.
Gibraltar v Scotland | Sunday 19:45 | Sky Sports 1
Well this wasn't how it was supposed to be eh? Spare a thought for those Scots fans who've travelled all the way to the Algarve in anticipation of a grandstand finish to the Scottish campaign. Or maybe you don't care? I do.
Scotland's Euro 2016 hopes ended on Thursday in spectacularly Scottish fashion. A last-kick-of-the-match goal against them as they sat on the cusp of a glorious victory. Despite this we all know the real damage was done last month in their awful 1-0 defeat in Georgia.
Now the awful prospect of every other Home Nation playing in next year's competition looks a cert. By the time you read this it may well be confirmed.
Just imagine how unappealing this game must be to the Scottish players. How can you possibly get yourself up for this? All you'd want to do is head back to your club but instead you have to play a pub team in a dead rubber.
Gibraltar have conceded 50 goals in this group with 21 of them coming at home. Germany and Poland scored seven there, Ireland four and Georgia three. Scotland managed to score six past them in March at Hampden but the team felt in a much better place then.
Bookmakers seem to be setting the line around the four goal mark. Over 4.5 is 23/20 with Coral while Under 4.5 is 3/4 with Marathon. It's the latter that appeals a lot more there.
How do Scotland do in these kind of depressing dead rubber matches? Well the nearest example comes from the Euro 2012 qualifiers where Scotland had three matches to get through after elimination had all but been confirmed.
In those matches they sneaked past Lithuania 1-0 at home, beat Liechtenstein 1-0 away and lost 3-1 to Spain. Hardly inspiring eh? Yes, the Scots were out early in the 2014 World Cup qualifiers too but they seemed to be on an upward curve then so I'm discounting those games.
So suffused with rage, the Scots may just kick the shit out the islanders and go out on a (sort of) high but with uncertainty over Gordon Strachan's future and a number of player withdrawals it's all a bit depressing. I'll dutch the 3-0 and 4-0 wins at 53/10 and 11/2 respectively and watch it all unfold whilst wiping away tears.
Best Bets
Gibraltar v Scotland – Scotland to win 3-0 (53/10 Marathon Bet)
Gibraltar v Scotland – Scotland to win 4-0 (11/2 Bet365)
