- Scotland can claim second place in Group F with a win over Slovenia on Sunday
- Gordon Strachan’s men won against Slovakia via Martin Skrtel’s late own goal
- Scotland are on the brink of a remarkable fightback to clinch a play-off spot
- They won just once in their first four games but have since taken 13 of 15 points
Charlie Mulgrew has warned Scotland that Slovenia will be no pushovers on Sunday.
While the Scots need to follow up Thursday night’s win over Slovakia with another three points in Ljubljana to keep their World Cup dream alive, the hosts’ ambitions of reaching the play-offs are all but over after their Wembley defeat to England.
But Blackburn defender Mulgrew believes Srecko Katanec’s men will be desperate to scupper Tartan Army hopes at the Stozice Stadium.
Charlie Mulgrew predicts a tough test when Scotland travel to Ljubljana to face Slovenia
‘It will be a hard game,’ said Mulgrew. ‘International matches are always difficult and this one away from home will be no different. But we’re going to give it all we can to try and get a result.
‘We’ve got our fate in our own hands. We knew coming in to these two matches we had to win the both of them and that is still our focus. Sunday’s game will be up there with the biggest games I’ve ever played in.
‘It’s massive – but we will play the game and not the occasion. We won’t spend too much time thinking about what the game means to us. Instead, we’ll just play the game as it unfolds and hopefully we can do the business.’
Scotland looked to be out of the race for second spot in Group F after winning just one of their opening four games.
Scotland celebrate after scoring late on to claim victory over Slovakia at Hampden Park
But having taken 13 of the last 15 points available to them, Gordon Strachan’s team are now on the brink of completing a remarkable fight-back.
‘Everyone kept believing and kept working,’ said former Celtic ace Mulgrew. ‘We didn’t listen to all the negative things about us not getting to the play-offs. Now we need to keep believing as we go towards Sunday.’
The Scots scraped past 10-man Slovakia thanks to Martin Skrtel’s last-minute own goal.
His mistake sent the Tartan Army into delirium but Mulgrew admits his side had to block out their own fans during the Hampden thriller as they tried desperately to keep their cool.
Gordon Strachan’s men have dragged themselves back into contention after a poor start
‘Obviously the crowd wanted us to get the ball forward and get up there as quickly as we could,’ he said. ‘But there’s more to it than that. We had to move them about and try to tire Slovakia out.
‘It just shows that was the right way to do it when we scored in the 89th minute. They were tired and lunging at things in the box and thankfully it went our way.
‘The goal was massive. Psychologically with them going down 10 men, we knew they would sit in and it would be down to us to break them down – but we did.
‘We hit the woodwork a couple of times and their keeper has had a great night but you need to keep believing.
‘We kept knocking down the door and finally got the goal. We’ll enjoy the win but now we need to quickly turn our attentions to Sunday.’
