The devastating start was a mixed blessing for thousands of fans stuck in queues outside Celtic Park. Frustrated supporters listened to the cheers as Darren Fletcher and James McFadden put Scotland two up in 10 minutes but police — who blamed the congestion on the public’s failure to heed their advice on early arrival — said that all 50,013 supporters were inside the stadium before Kris Boyd’s 24th minute penalty made it 3-0. Another penalty from Kenny Miller, followed by Boyd’s fourth goal in three internationals and a final strike from substitute Garry O’Connor meant the Tartan Army had to settle for the same scoreline as the friendly against Finland at Hampden in September 1976.
“We didn’t reach the same standard of play in the second-half because the edge came off our game,” said Smith. “Not scoring more goals was disappointing, but the Faroes are a team who try to keep it tight and make life difficult. Clearly in that second-half they weren’t going to open up and give us a chance to get in behind them. The first half was especially satisfying, because we set about things in the right way. There was good pace to the game and good moves, and more importantly we got goals from the moves.”
Scotland now travel to Lithuania for the second match of Group B on Wednesday and Smith added: “This result keeps the confidence going. After all the Faroes have troubled some of the bigger European countries in the past and I’m sure they’ll continue that trend.”
The only disappointments for Scotland were yellow cards for Fletcher and Miller. “It was irritating to see players getting booked when we were ahead,” said Smith. “Players get caught up in the game and get booked for next to nothing.”
Scotland’s next opponents, Lithuania, registered the day’s biggest upset, holding world champions Italy to a 1-1 draw in Naples. France won their opening qualifier, defeating Georgia 3-0 in Tbilisi and in Group E England were 5-0 winners over Andorra.