Belarus boss backs Smith to lift Scots

Scotland 0 Belarus 1

The bold appraisal came in the wake of Belarus killing off Walter Smith’s hopes of guiding Scotland to next summer’s World Cup finals, winning at Hampden Park on Saturday thanks to Vitaly Kutuzov’s early goal.

Smith and his squad nevertheless impressed Baidachny, who considers them certain qualifiers for Euro 2008.

“I like Walter Smith as a coach and a person and he has got a good squad,” said Baidachny. “We are also improving but Scotland cannot fail in the future. They have so many good players coming through.

“He (Smith) has done a great job and he is unlucky not to be in the play-off for the World Cup. They have shown they can beat anybody and had he (Smith) had longer who knows what might have happened.”

Smith was so shocked by his side’s slow start against Belarus that he is putting off planning for Wednesday’s final Group Five qualifier in Slovenia.

“I hope I can motivate the players and they can bounce back in our next game,” he said. “But I have to take into consideration this game first and look into why we started the game the way we did.”

The Scotland boss admitted his players were inconsolable after realising their World Cup dream was over.

Norway beat Moldova to close in on a play-off place, meaning Slovenia need to beat Scotland to snatch that second place in Group Five. Norway’s win meant Scottish hopes were over.

“The players are all as disappointed as me,” added Smith. “After the good work we have done to get back into the running we have let ourselves down.

“The players don’t need reminding of that but we all have to look at what went wrong and try to rectify that.”

Smith will be without Lee McCulloch for the midweek match after he returned to Wigan with his long-standing knee problem.

The manager has called up Cardiff goalkeeper Neil Alexander because of an injury to Celtic’s David Marshall.

Barry Ferguson is suspended while Callum Davidson has returned home because his wife is expecting a baby.