Here we go again!

This afternoon’s game is not about playing well or looking the part for the new season.  It is only about getting a result that helps us into the second round.  All of the pretty football and developmental signs we hope to see can wait.

Last year we started the same competitive journey a little closer, in Ireland.  More memorably, a year earlier, things kicked off in Gibraltar.  Ronny’s two campaigns both began in Iceland.  Although the game in Gibraltar was an anxious occasion, early European qualification games have only helped prepare the squad in recent seasons.

If we are to see these four qualification rounds through, we will have eight games in eight weeks.  Each an opportunity to pick up injuries and suspensions.  Let’s hope we come through today unscathed in both respects.

Here we go again!