'The Hampden Roar' - The View Inside the Stadium As Scotland Reach The World Cup

Since moving from Inverness to Glasgow for university three years ago, and becoming a Scotland Supporters Club member, I’ve been lucky enough to enjoy some truly electric nights at Hampden - the 2-0 victory over Spain being the pinnacle.

The dust has now settled on Scotland’s dramatic qualification for the 2026 World Cup, and it's without doubt the best experience of international football I've ever had.

Honestly, it’s on par with my best football experiences full stop. As a Ross County fan, I’ve always been a ‘club over country’ person, and never would have dreamed anything would be remotely comparable to being eleven years old and witnessing Andrew Davies hoist the Scottish League Cup in 2016.

I now say with full confidence that Tuesday night is right up there.

Firstly, stakes were high from the start, and that had nothing to do with the football. We spent too long in the pub and it was a mad rush to get into Hampden. This meant that us flying down the stairs to our seats happened to coincide with Scott McTominay flying eight feet in the air to put us 1-0 up in jaw-dropping fashion.

Bedlam.

After a while jumping up and down the stairs we eventually made it to our seats. On the big screen, they’d put up Scott McKenna on the goalscorer graphic, so there was a glorious two minutes where we thought he was the one who’d pulled out the acrobatics. I’m sure he’d forgive me for my disbelief.

Most of the drama against Denmark came in the second half, but it seemed to me what made the atmosphere so special that night was already evident in the remainder of the first half and up until the Danes’ eventual equaliser.

On the eve of the match, Scotland captain Andy Robertson came out with a plea to the Tartan Army:

He said: “We hope the fans are ready inside the stadium to get behind us - no matter what. There might be setbacks. There might be frustrations along the way, but all I can say is get to your seats early, get behind the boys and make it an incredible atmosphere.”

After Scotland had taken the lead, the rest of the first half became something of a difficult watch. Forays into the Danish final third became rare as the away side began to peg the Scots back in their search for an equaliser.

This issue was exacerbated when Ben Gannon-Doak had to be taken off with an injury - his replacement Kenny McLean played well, and wrote himself into the history books later in the night, but the difference in pace was blatant.

In the past, rightly or wrongly, frustrations have begun to boil over from the stands onto the pitch in times like these. There were still groans from myself and others in moments where possession was given away for what felt like the thousandth time (the guy standing behind us thought he had a future in the dugout).

The difference though, is that even in these moments where the crowd was growing in irritation, the tone was more encouraging than in the past. The focus seemed to be urging Scotland on the front foot again rather than digging out individuals, dishing out blame, and chastising the manager.

This continued after Denmark’s penalty equaliser. In fact, the encouragement only grew. One of the biggest cheers on what was the night of the Hampden Roar came when the players trudged back to the centre circle to go again after the opposition had drawn level.

It says a lot that on a night where Scotland scored four goals, three of which were among the biggest screamers in the country’s history (sorry Lawrence), I’m banging on about what the atmosphere was like directly after Scotland had conceded. Hampden truly answered Robertson’s call for support through the ebbs and flows of the game.

There should be no confusion though - the goal celebrations are among the best moments of my life, let alone the best following football.

This may be easy to say knowing what happened afterwards, but in the wake of Shankland putting us back in the driver's seat, there was an air of unease. The atmosphere was still deafening and everyone was elated but there were still worries as Scotland began to sit deeper and deeper in a manner than invited too much pressure to handle, even from ten men.

Never in my life have I been part of or seen a crowd go from 100-0 as fast as we did when Dorgu hit the second equaliser for Denmark. It was synonymous with a power cut. For the entire time the Tartan Army was in Hampden, that was the only moment of total silence. It was eerie.

For the ten or so minutes afterwards came a feeling that every Scotland fan knows all too well. We did have a safety net. If Denmark got the draw they needed we would have still had a playoff to keep the World Cup dream alive, but that was comfort to no one in dark blue. We had already come too close to the finish line to be consoled by this. Visions of the next day’s headlines - of another ‘heroic failure’. It was all too much to bear.

Never mind every Scotland fan: every football fan worldwide knows the feeling of needing a goal in the dying embers of a huge game. The other team is sitting back. They’re falling down ‘injured’. It’s amazing how easily cramp sets in when you’re desperate to hear the full time whistle. They’re taking ages for every goal kick, free kick and throw in. Running down the clock. The referee might give them a token booking for time wasting but their plan is working. The ball is spending more time out than in. In the rare moments where the game is allowed to be played your team launches ball after ball into the box but it just refuses to drop at the feet of one of the eleven players wearing the same colour as you, as you watch on with tears in your eyes.

In 99% of matches where this pattern starts to take shape, you can feel it in your bones that it’s not your night. I’m not going to sit here and claim that somehow the Denmark game was different and I could magically feel the goal coming - a feeling of dread was setting in.

Don’t misunderstand me, Hampden was jumping at this point. The voices of every Scotland fan tried to scream a goal into existence, but the tone was becoming more and more exasperated with every second the clock ticked forward.

About ten seconds before Kieran Tierney’s roof-raiser, John McGinn had a shot blocked that for a split second everyone in the ground thought looked destined for the net. There had been a few agonising moments like this. McGinn himself had previously curled an effort just barely too high of the target, and Lewis Ferguson was denied by a last ditch challenge.

The way the place erupted when Tierney slammed home the goal that the country has had on loop for the past few days is hard to describe. A huge chunk of it was relief, but it takes more than that to make the memory of that moment as vivid as it is. Being embroiled in the carnage with one of my best mates beside me, before being embraced by his dad and family friend has been etched into my memory in every waking moment since. Sharing that celebration with 50,000+ was a privilege I can’t even begin to understand what I did to deserve.

Myself (left) and fellow Tartan Army member Aedan

There were more than enough nerves to follow this. It wasn’t over. The six minutes of injury time what were initially met with a rallying cry were now a source of torture as Scotland were now the side waiting for the final whistle to ring. Any Denmark goal at that moment would have been 100 times more damaging than the one that went in ten minutes prior.

When McLean got hold of the ball and started racing at the few Danish players still bothering to defend, there were actually very few fans around me urging him to shoot, even with Kasper Schmeichel miles off his line. Yells of “get it in the corner”, “give it to him” (Che Adams was making a run into acres of space) and “punt it” rang out around the stadium.

The ball hit the net. McLean wheeled away to be mobbed by teammates. Nobody even heard the final whistle. At 4-2 we were in the clear and what ensued was the biggest racket I’ve heard in a football ground.

It’s not unheard of to stay in Hampden to enjoy a round of “Scotland’s on fire” after a good result but barely anyone moved from their position for at least half an hour as celebrations kicked off. The players lap of honour was a highlight as every single player deserved their moment to receive adulation. It was brilliant to see Gannon-Doak back on his feet, smiling despite having been stretchered off. McGinn yanking out the corner flag and throwing it like a javelin into the crowd got a huge cheer.

Even when the time came to turn around and leave the ground, the atmosphere that had built over the last several hours in Hampden continued long into the centre of Glasgow, where tens of thousands of Scotland fans made the walk with unwipeable smiles on their faces.

I wish I could have whipped out a jar and filled it with the emotions of the whole Tartan Army to keep on my person for the rest of my life.

Anyone fancy a trip across the pond next year?