Scotland goal hero Steven Fletcher has described the magical moment he struck to sink Iceland on Wednesday night as “the highlight of his career so far”.
The Hibernian ace rose in the box to flick home a header and give the national team a much needed 2-1 victory at Hampden Park, during a second half in which the visitors finally started to show the true extent of their attacking prowess.
And after staking his place as the man to put the Scots’ 2010 World Cup qualifying campaign back on track, sparing the blushes of a nation in the process, Fletcher is delighted to finally be off the mark for his country.
“It’s a great feeling to score at Hampden” beamed the 22-year-old. “I’ve always just wanted to play for my country but now I’ve scored a goal as well so I’m absolutely delighted.
“It’s the highlight of my career so far. The ball came in and Stephen McManus put it back across the goal. I just reacted to put it away.
“I was delighted to see the ball hit the back of the net.”
The Easter Road star was not widely expected to claim a place in George Burley’s starting line-up for Wednesday night’s make or break encounter, but a combination of off-field fiascos and the unthinkable consequences of failure to win meant a shake up to the starting XI.
“I didn’t know I would be playing until the gaffer told me pre-match that I was in from the start,” explained the striker. “Obviously I was very happy.
“We played well, and I think especially after the poor result and Saturday we came through with a good performance.
“There was a silly mistake off field by a couple of the boys (Barry Ferguson and Allan McGregor) but I think we showed character in the team to come through it.
“We have seven points in Group 9 now, so hopefully we can take this form into our next game.”
International team-mate and namesake Darren Fletcher said it was up to Scotland to battle on for second place, and maximise their chances of claiming a play-off spot.
“We have to try to keep winning. We’ve got a difficult match to win in Norway but I think we’ll go there and probably not get beat, and try and win the match,” said the Manchester United man to Setanta Sports News.
“Then with the two home games anything can happen. We’re battling for second place.”