The game was about 15 minutes in and a familiar script appeared to be taking shape. After an initial flurry, Scotland were under the pump, struggling to deal with the intensity and physicality of a determined Haiti team. Passes were going astray and tackles were being missed. It seemed only a matter of time before calamity became manifest, but there was one route of escape, summarised eloquently by a cry from the crowd: “Hit it long for the wee man!”
Ben Gannon-Doak, the wee man in question, did what was required of him. The balls did indeed start going long to the Bournemouth winger, and, when they did, he took the fight to the opponent. In the 17th minute he hit the byline to square the ball for a Scott McTominay effort that came back off the post. Twelve minutes later, after great hold up play from Che Adams, he again went deep, then nipped past the full-back Martin Expérience to tee up Adams for a shot that was parried away from close range. That loose ball came to John McGinn, and a deflected effort from Scotland’s No 7 eventually found the back of the net to decide the outcome of the match.
Despite all the Tartan Army battalions that have flooded into Massachusetts over the past few days, despite the sea of salmon pink that filled out the Boston Stadium, giving the impression of a Scotland home game, this match was always going to be a tighter, tenser affair than anyone would have wished for. Had one of a number of Haitian half-chances gone another way it could have been a disaster to rival Peru, Costa Rica, Iran or Zaire. Not scoring any more than a solitary goal, meanwhile, could yet deny Scotland the chance to escape Group C. But they got their first World Cup goal since Craig Burley in 1998 and their first victory since Mo Johnston scored against Sweden in 1990. And in Gannon-Doak’s performance, they also had something to cling onto.
Jimmy Johnstone, John Robertson, Archie Gemmill, Pat Nevin: Scotland have a tradition of tricky wingers which petered out at roughly the same time as their hopes of reaching major championships. At their last World Cup in 1998 there were no wingers, just wingbacks: Christian Dailly and Darren Jackson. The only Gemmill in the team was Scot. It might be simplifying things to suggest that Scotland need someone getting chalk on their boots for the whole thing to click, but sometimes simplicity does work.
Gannon-Doak’s efforts were not complicated, particularly in the first half. When he got possession he looked to attack. When the team were hemmed in, he gave them an out ball. This is not an option Steve Clarke has had at his disposal at his past two tournaments. Perhaps it shouldn’t have proven as important as it did against Haiti, but Gannon-Doak’s pace on the counter will surely be needed in the remaining group games against Morocco and Brazil. The 20-year-old is playing with the confidence of youth, and not cowed by the fear of repeating previous failure, another plus. He wants to take a man on and has the ability to back up his ambitions. He is also a relative unknown and someone opposition coaches will not have much research material to lean on. If you’re Scotland, these are all good things.
The reason for the relative enigma is that Gannon-Doak has cumulatively missed over a year of football through injury since making his debut for Liverpool in the 2022-23 season. He has had surgery on his lateral meniscus and twice on his hamstrings, one of which he described as “hanging on by a thread” after he was withdrawn on a stretcher during the ultimately jubilant qualifying victory over Denmark last November. Gannon-Doak has said he found strength through this adversity, thanks in part through a return to the Catholicism of his youth. A bit of mental steel is not a bad attribute to have in a World Cup either.
What the boy from North Ayrshire can offer off the ball is something we will likely learn more about over the next two weeks as Scotland come up against far tougher challenges than the one presented by Haiti. But one final simple quality that perhaps should not be underestimated is that of the excitement Gannon-Doak, or really any winger with the wind beneath their heels, can bring to a team and their supporters. Scotland’s recent failures have been characterised not only by apparent timidity, but also prevalent dullness: safety-first football that never proved to be enough. Scotland degenerated into such play once again in the final, scratchy minutes of this match. But when Gannon-Doak, substituted with 20 minutes to go, was on the pitch there was always a flickering sense that things could change in a moment. It may well be true that it’s the hope that kills you, but surely better to die in hope than fear.
