1978 WCQ Wales 0 - 2 Scotland. Anfield, October 1977.
The Welsh Sport Nostalgia Channel The Welsh Sport Nostalgia Channel
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 Published On Mar 25, 2020

Nine minutes of highlights of Wales' crucial world cup qualifier against Scotland at Anfield in 1977 - the most extensive footage of this famous encounter available online. And it's a match which has lived long in the minds of many Wales supporters, if sadly for the wrong reasons.

Having crushed the european champions Czechoslovakia 3-0 at Wrexham a few months earlier Wales knew a one goal victory over Scotland would virtually guarantee them top place in the 3 team group and qualification for the following year's world cup finals in Argentina.

Earmarked as a home game for Wales the Welsh FA - with their eyes on gate receipts - made the rash decision to stage the game at Liverpool's Anfield ground with its 51,000 capacity rather than Wrexham's Racecourse and its capacity of 15,000. So when the Welsh team, led by captain Terry Yorath, walked out at Anfield on Wednesday October 12th they were confronted by an estimated 44,000 raucous Scots with Wales 7000 supporters in small pockets dotted around the stadium. To all intents and purposes it was a home game for Scotland.

Undeterred by Scotland's massive numeric advantage among the fans Mike Smith's team battled gamely and created some good chances, Peter Sayer and John Toshack both went agonisingly close to scoring, and Wales were arguably the better tean until the 78th minute when French referee Robert Wurtz mistakenly penalised Wales defender Dave Jones for handball in the Wales penalty area - replays clearly showing Scotland's Joe Jordan in fact handled the ball (to his credit commentator Idwal Robling pointed this out at the time).

Don Masson's penalty - and a Kenny Dalglish second when Wales were desperately searching for an equaliser - saw the Scots qualify for Argentina at Wales' expense, meaning Wales once again missed out on a major finals in heartbreaking fashion.

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