Chris Iwelumo has a long time to worry about if he will get the chance to make up for his costly miss against Norway.

"...I've still got a lot of football ahead of me"
With one player announcing he resignation from the national side while the current management is in place, another would sell his granny to persuade George Burley that he deserves another chance after missing the sitter of the century on Saturday. Wolves' Chris Iwelumo wants to make amends for getting the nation off their seats only to sit down again in disbelief when he scorned the chance to score from three yards at Hampden against Norway. Despite suffering the agony of watching numerous television replays of the moment he blew his chance to be an instant Scottish football hero, Iwelumo is determined to remain upbeat and insists the reaction he has received since the game has been nothing but positive. He is now pinning his hopes on winning more caps if Burley keeps faith with his bustling style. Speaking on Sunday, he said: "I'm a positive person. I'm sure I will look at it over and over again but it's been and gone now. All I can do is keep doing what I'm doing and hopefully I'll get another chance to go out there and show the Tartan Army what I'm all about. People have come over and said not to worry about it and they're looking to other parts of the game. It's fantastic to hear and it definitely gives you that little lift that's very much needed this morning. These things happen in football and I've still got a lot of football ahead of me. I'm sure there will be many highs and many lows - and hopefully the highs outnumber the lows." Despite this latest set-back, Iwelumo refused to give up on Scotland's qualification hopes. He said: "A draw is better than a loss. Holland will go to Norway now and that's a massive game. A draw would be a perfect result for us and then it's up to us to go to Holland and maybe have a shock result there. We still have a lot of football to play, a lot of points to get, and we have to be positive."

Scotland fans may have been silent when Iwelumo's ball sailed past the post on Saturday but they quickly threw their backing behind the big striker for the remainder of the game. The mood was in contrast to how England supporters responded to Ashley Cole's error in the 5-1 win over Kazakhstan, he was booed every time he touched the ball after his mistake which led to the visitors' only goal. Iwelumo stepped into dangerous territory when he said: "After the miss, I couldn't believe the reaction from the fans and that just shows you what they are all about. The Ashley Cole situation is one that I can't really comprehend. If England have fans doing that, it makes no sense to me. They won 5-1 , what else can the England team do? They are a bunch of fantastic players and Ashley Cole is a world-class player. If people are judging him on what they read in the papers, that's wrong. It's about what he does on the pitch and that can't be argued with really."

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