But so it did not prove. Despite being on top for the whole of the game, a goal was conceded in the 90th minute and extra time beckoned. The rest is history and when the game went to penalties Scotland came out on top 5-4.
This prompted me to cast my mind back to my very first international in 1966, when, at the age of 13, I made my way from Leith with my friend, Billy, through to Hampden Park to watch Scotland take on the Auld Enemy in the then British Home Championship.
A 4-3 defeat before a crowd of 123,000 did nothing to dampen my enthusiasm and I went on to witness Pele and Eusebio turn out for Brazil and Portugal respectively against Scotland later that year.
Now that we are to compete in the Euro 2020 finals, I hope to take the opportunity to attend as many games as I can and I hope that all the young fans will be able to serve up such memories as I can when I saw Scotland for the first time – Ferguson, Gemmell, Greig, McKinnon, Baxter, Bremner, Johnston, Johnstone, Murdoch, Law and Wallace, with Jimmy Johnstone netting a brace and Denis Law scoring with a trademark header.
I remember just like it was yesterday. C’mon Scotland!