Don Hutchison will forever be remembered by the Tartan Army for his soaring leap under the Twin Towers.
But the former Scotland favourite admits he’d never have had his Wembley moment without his bullet strike in Bremen - and Tommy Burns. Hutchison made history when he nodded home with the only goal against England in what was the Scots’ last trip to London before the Three Lions’ home was torn down and rebuilt. But he’s also in the record books for being the last Scot to score a winning goal against Germany with his clinical strike in a friendly a few months before that play-off clash with the Auld Enemy.
His Wembley header wasn’t enough to book a slot for Craig Brown’s side at Euro 2000 but it has secured him a place in the hearts of the Scotland faithful. Hutchison, though, is the first to admit he thought his cap career had been killed off before it had even got started after a dismal night in Wrexham.
The former Liverpool, West Ham, Everton and Sunderland midfielder-turned-frontman was raised in Gateshead but was eligible to pull on a dark blue jersey thanks to his Nairn-born dad Douglas. His first invite from the SFA came in 1994 when he was called up for a ‘B’ international friendly against Wales.
Hutchinson was hardly a stand-out in a 2-1 defeat but something stuck in the mind of Burns, who had been asked to take the team that night by national boss Brown. Fast forward five years and when Brown was short of a striker ahead of the clash with Germany, it was Burns who suggested Hutchison be called in from the cold.
Thrown his big chance against Die Mannschaft, Hutchison took it when he laced the ball past Jens Lehman. And the rest, as they say, is history.
Looking back on his big break, Hutchison told Record Sport:
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