“It was a horrible experience, I thought at one stage it was going to be double figures,” admitted Mikkelsen, who had a short spell in Scotland with Partick Thistle three seasons ago. After defeat to Georgia earlier this month by the same 6-0 scoreline that Scotland produced, the 36-year-old is getting weary of picking the ball out of his net. “It’s so depressing. We’ve had those sort of defeats in the past, but never in successive matches.
“It’s a fearsome prospect that we have to face world champions Italy and the beaten finalists, France. We never imagined we would be in with a shout in the group, but we did hope we could gain some respectability. I’m one of the older players in the squad, and we have to get together to come up with some answers.”
Scotland were five goals to the good by half time and the Faroes would have been forgiven for not reappearing for the second period. “I just didn’t know what was going to happen in the second-half, I feared the worst,” admitted Mikkelsen. “At least we managed to pin them down to only scoring one.”
Two of the first-half strikes came from penalties, by Kris Boyd and Kenny Millar, and the keeper made valiant attempts to stop them, especially the second which went under his body. “I thought I had stopped the ball, but it still went in,” he recalled. “That was the story of our day.”
However he praised Scotland’s performance, a total contrast to 2002 and their start to the Euro 2004 qualifying campaign when, under the stewardship of Berti Vogts, they could only draw 2-2 in Toftir. “They are a different team from the last time. They play in a European style, and they have people who know how to finish. The last time their emphasis was on long balls, but this was far better from them.”
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Faroes coach Jogran Martin Olsen was also impressed by Scotland. “If you look back five or even 10 years ago they are a much better team. I’m only glad we managed to steady up in the second half.”