Scotland face Slovenia at Hampden tonight knowing that victory is essential to keep their World Cup hopes alive.

The visitors are currently four points ahead of Scotland but on the positive side they have never lost against Slovenia in their three previous meetings.

The two sides drew in a 2012 friendly after a draw in 2004 at Hampden was followed up by a 3-0 win away from home where Fletcher, McFadden and Hartley all hit the back of the net.

Gordon Strachan said: “The team might be completely different to the one that took on England in November but we’ll still have the same desire and hunger to do well.

“We have to win and we’ll need to be ready to win the game in the first five or six minutes as you never know what can happen.

“Sometimes when you have challenges like tomorrow night when you need to win, it brings out the best in you.

“The weather is fantastic and there’s a skip in the player’s step. I think it’ll be a tremendous game.

“We know there will be five and a half million people cheering us on tomorrow night and whatever the crowd is, they will be backed up by the people who can’t make it. Everyone wants Scotland to win.”

+ posts

John graduated from Telford College in 2010 with an HNC in Practical Journalism and since then he worked for the North Edinburgh News, The Southern Reporter, the Irish News Review and The Edinburgh Reporter. In addition he has been published in the Edinburgh Evening News and the Hibernian FC Programme.