Scotland v Armenia

As with many former Soviet nations, the
architecture was functional rather than
beautiful but that cannot be said of Haghpat
Monastery (pictured bottom right). Built in
the 10th century, it was a picturesque place
of quiet calm and serenity in the highlands of
northern Armenia.
A highlight of the visit for some of us was the
challenge of the wishing wall (pictured right).
This involved walking along the bottom edge
of the wall that formed one end of one of the
churches. The wall is mere inches wide and
our guide informed us that if we made a wish
and were then able to travel from one end
to the other without falling, the wish would
come true. Although several of our group
tried, no one succeeded in going the distance.
My wish was to beat Georgia the following
day… if only I could have made it the whole
way, our qualifying campaign would have
turned out to be so different!
June actually made the furthest distance in
our group and when I asked her what she had
wished for, it turned out that it was exactly
the same as me. So close, yet so far.
I met June for the first time on one of
Scotland’s sojourns into Dublin for the Carling
Nations Cup in 2011. It was actually during
Scotland’s first trip to Serbia in 2013 that we
decided to take our blossoming relationship a
bit more seriously.
Serbia was another of those great trips to see
Scotland play abroad. Prior to leaving the UK,
we had been warned that Serbians would
be unfriendly and their fans threatening with
more than just a hint of hooliganism. We set
off with more than a little trepidation.
It was a great surprise to find our hosts were
anything but threatening. On the train ride
(another great staple of a trip away with
Scotland) from Budapest to Novi Sad, we
discovered that the Serbians liked to party.
Armed with a fair few carry outs, we boarded
the train and proceeded to share out the drink
among our fellow travellers, much to their
amazement. Alcohol - one of the great icebreakers
in foreign countries when dressed
in a kilt. We arrived in Novi Sad, more than a
HAMPDEN PARK / WEDNESDAY, 8 JUNE 2022
SCOTLAND v ARMENIA / 63