Iwelumo hoping for another chance

Chris Iwelumo has begged Scotland manager George Burley to give him the opportunity to make amends for his howler against Norway.

The Wolves striker's dream debut turned into a nightmare when he missed a glaring sitter in front of goal that would have secured victory in the World Cup qualifier, which ended goalless.

Despite numerous television replays of the moment he blew Scotland's chances, Iwelumo is determined to remain upbeat and insists the reaction he has received in the last 24 hours has been nothing but positive.

He now hopes Burley will keep the faith and that his fledgling international career is not over almost before it has begun.

"I'm a positive person," he said. "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."

Hampden may have been stunned into silence following the miss but the Tartan Army quickly threw their backing behind the big striker for the remainder of the game.

The mood was in stark contrast to England's 5-1 win over Kazakhstan, during which Ashley Cole endured booing from his own fans following his mistake which led to the visitors' only goal.

"After the miss, I couldn't believe the reaction from the fans and that just shows you what they are all about," said Iwelumo.

"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 last night, 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."