Gordon Strachan reveals a penalty against a bus driver was toughest of his career

The penalty that Gordon Strachan will never forget.

Jibes about teams parking the bus have become commonplace in the modern game, shorthand for overly defensive tactics.

Coaches, knowing their side would be outclassed in an open contest, pack their defences and challenge opponents to find a way through.

The biggest pressure Scotland coach Gordon Strachan says he ever felt, though, was when he had to beat, from 12 yards, a goalkeeper who literally parked buses for a living.

“It happened in San Marino in 1991,” he said, as he sought to illustrate the difficulty in taking on minnows such as Gibraltar, the country’s next Euro 2016 qualifying opponents.

“We were a good side but they are funny games, these ones. It’s at the back of your mind that you should win it but there’s always the wee devil on your shoulder telling you ‘this could be a long night’.

“So up until the 63rd minute we hadn’t managed to score. We got a penalty and I had to take it.

“There I was up against a bus driver from San Marino (Pierluigi Benedettini) and it was the biggest pressure I’ve ever had.

“That’s because I knew if I missed then, I would be remembered for the rest of my life for it. Luckily I managed to scrape it into the back of the net and we went on to win 2-0.”

It is an example Strachan plans to use to help get his players ready for a March meeting with a Gibraltar side which has conceded 21 and scored zero from their four Group D fixtures to date.

There is a chance of a friendly with Northern Ireland a few days earlier but until then he has to content himself with the little time he had with them after this week’s loss to England, before they went back to their respective clubs.

“We talked to the younger players like Calum Paterson and Lewis Macleod and told them to look at the intensity of top stars like Danny Wellbeck and Alex Oxlade Chamberlain because that is what they have to strive to match.

“Ideally we would be able to reflect for 24 hours then get them in but you have to condense it all into a couple of seconds before they all disappear or I have to go and speak to the media.

“That is one thing that is difficult about being an international manager. The players are only there because they want to be there and you have to understand that.”