I know, some of you are thinking, why are we saying Happy Birthday to that dick, after all he missed that penalty in Argentina. That’s fair enough but does that really tell the story of Don’s time with the Scotland team? It’s funny how we remember that one in Argentina and don’t recall the one he scored at Anfield against Wales to put us there.

I did a Focus On piece on Don a few weeks back so I’m not going to go into much detail on this one but Don had a blistering start to his Scotland career especially in the 1976 Home International Series that Scotland won at a canter.

Don made his Scotland debut against Wales on 6th May, 1976 at aged 29, which saw Scotland despatch of Wales 3-1 with goals from Pettigrew, Rioch and Eddie Gray. Next up was Northern Ireland also at Hampden. Scotland won 3-0 with goals from Archie Gemmill, Don Masson and Kenny Dalglish. Don hits a goal from outside the penalty area but he also plays a big part in the third goal with a dribble and a nicely dinked ball into the penalty area. The other interesting thing about the game was Bruce Rioch missed a penalty which led to Don becoming the penalty taker after this.

The final game in the series was against England of course, with Don providing the equaliser from a header before Dalglish’s wonderful nutmeg through Clemence’s legs for the winner. Incidentally, Don would score another goal in his next International with a penalty against Finalnd to make it 3 goals in 4 games.

However, Argentina was to be his downfall and what we choose to remember at times; so take the time to enjoy the videos and let’s all wish Don a great day on his 69th birthday.

David Stuart

First posted on Facebook August 26th, 2015