Jamie insists qualifying campaign is far from over ...
R’S ATTACKER Jamie Mackie insists that Scotland's World Cup qualification hopes remain alive despite opening their Group A campaign with two home draws.
The Scots chances of qualifying for World Cup 2014 were weakened over the last few days with back-to-back stalemates against Serbia and Macedonia.
However, Mackie – who started the second of those qualifiers at Hampden Park last night and provided the assist for Kenny Miller’s equaliser – insists the qualifying campaign is far from over for Craig Levein’s men.
“Every game is tough at international level – in that respect it’s very similar to the Premier League,” he told www.qpr.co.uk.
“World Cup qualifiers in general are never easy. You can’t just roll up and expect to turn teams over. It’s not as easy as that nowadays. There’s never a given.
“We got a lot of stick after the Serbia result, but then they went and beat Wales 6-1 last night, so that just goes to show how difficult international football can be.”
Mackie added: “We know our home form needs to improve throughout the rest of the qualifiers, but we’ve got two points on the board and I’m still confident we can get results on our travels to ensure we’re in with a shout for qualification.
“We were gutted not to get all three points at the weekend and again we were hopeful we’d get a victory last night, but there’s a long way to go and plenty of points still up for grabs.
“It will be a long, tough road, but you can’t write us off this early on.”