Soccer: Scots scrape victory to keep faint Euro playoff dreams afloat

Craig Mackail-Smith scored a first-half header as Scotland beat Liechtenstein 1-0 yesterday to keep their chances of qualifying for next year's European Championship alive.

Mackail-Smith rewarded coach Craig Levein's decision to hand the striker his first start by steering Phil Bardsley's cross into goal in the 32nd-minute at the Rheinpark Stadion.

Scotland moved into second place in Group I, one point ahead of the Czech Republic. The Scots must now win their final match away against European and World Cup champion Spain on Wednesday to secure a place in the playoffs for next year's tournament in Poland and Ukraine or wait on the Czechs' result at Lithuania.

Spain have won all seven of their group games going into the last at Alicante.

"It's going to be very difficult to go to Spain and win so we're going to need a little help from Lithuania," captain Darren Fletcher said. "But a shock can happen."

Fletcher flew into the principality on Saturday after recovering from tonsillitis, which had led Levein to initially rule the Manchester United midfielder out of the match.

But Mackail-Smith proved the hero after replacing the injured Kenny Miller in attack as Scotland dominated but found it hard to break through against a side also missing many regulars to injury.

Mackail-Smith's first international goal came after Steven Naismith had missed three good chances for Scotland, who still endured a 69th-minute scare when Allan McGregor stretched to save Nicolas Hasler's low shot from going in at the far post.

"We made it harder than it should have been," Levein said. "We had enough chances in the first half in particular to put the game to bed and of course when you don't get that second goal the opposition still have a degree of hope."

Liechtenstein are last in the group with four points from eight matches.