Brown wants goals galore

Scotland are expected to brush San Marino aside

Live commentary on BBC Radio Scotland 810MW 1905 BST.

Highlights on BBC1 Scotland at 2320 BST.

Scotland manager Craig Brown is eager for goals aplenty against San Marino on Wednesday evening in order to boost his side's scoring ratio.

Brown says he is prepared to throw bodies forward in the Hampden World Cup qualifier, knowing goal difference could be crucial at the end of what promises to be a very tight Group Six campaign.

The Scots will go top of the table ahead of Belgium and Croatia should they get the victory everyone expects.

Belgium recently defeated San Marino 10-1 and Brown said: "Sometimes you have to compromise and throw balls in and pounce on mistakes, rather than threading balls through."

The last time Scotland reached double figures in a match was an 11-0 win over Ireland in 1901.

Set-pieces

Leicester's 32-year-old Matt Elliott is likely to play a crucial role against the minnows. His defensive duties are expected to be negligible, and he will link up with the attack.

Elliott scored the opener in San Marino

Elliott made the breakthrough in October after a tense 71 minutes in San Marino, with Don Hutchison grabbing the other goal.

"We will change our shape for this game and try and push people forward," said Brown. "San Marino tend to have nine or 10 people behind the ball.

"Elliott is one of the guys we expect to get on the end of our set-pieces but he won't start as a striker.

"Belgium scored five of their goals against San Marino in the last 15 minutes, so we have to keep the pace up right to the end."

Weaker teams

San Marino, making their third visit to Hampden, are Europe's whipping boys.

Since they entered the qualifying tournament for Euro 92, they have lost 28 of their 29 competitive matches.

Their only point came in a World Cup qualifier against Turkey in 1993 when they secured a 0-0 draw and they have conceded an average of 4.96 goals per game.

Scotland have scored 15 with no reply in their five matches with the side ranked 168th in the world.

Neil Sullivan should have a quiet night

German legend Franz Beckenbauer believes weaker teams, like San Marino, should have to pre-qualify and Brown goes along with that train of thought.

"I think there should be an elimination competition similar to the Champions League," said the Scotland coach.

"I don't mean to be disrespectful or insult San Marino but I don't think they want to be hammered all the time.

"Maybe it would be better if they were in a group alongside Luxembourg, the Faroe Islands and Liechtenstein."

San Marino manager Gianpaulo Mazza immediately hit back, saying: "We are a small nation but we have the right to belong in this competition like any other country.

Very optimistic

"Probably Craig Brown is right that San Marino shouldn't belong in this kind of competition.

"But in that case Scotland shouldn't play against Italy, Germany and other big teams like they do now."

Brown says he will tinker with the side that drew with Belgium but skipper Colin Hendry looks certain to start after recovering from a stomach upset.

Colin Cameron and Allan Johnston are pushing for places in the side as Barry Ferguson misses out with a rib injury.

Dundee's Gavin Rae was called into the squad but will not start the game.

Brown said: "I am very optimistic as we played exceptionally well for long periods against Belgium. We will give it a real go."