Scotland manager Craig Brown still believes his team can pull off a surprise win against England in the second leg of the Euro 2000 play-off at Wembley on Wednesday.

Brown said: 'We did have the better chances before England scored. We also thought we were unlucky to be 2-0 down at half-time. It was probably slightly unfair.

'England won't agree but I think if we can go to Wembley and get an early goal we are in the match.

'Sloppy defending cost us the two goals. We didn't really pick up Scholes in midfield. His timing was excellent and his finishing was tremendous.

'But he did not contribute a great deal apart from that. Still, I guess that is his job.'

Brown added: 'We gave away careless free-kicks. The referee was fairly harsh and we were not equally punished but again I am a bit biased.

'But we displayed that we can pass the ball and keep it. We need to be much more clinical when we get chances. David Seaman saved excellently from Kevin Gallacher. If that had gone in who knows.

'We could not open up too much in the second half in case we lost a third goal.'

A defiant Brown added: 'We are in touch, although it is an uphill battle. If there is any complacency in the England set-up we can capitalise on it.

'I think our alternatives up front at Wembley might give us the edge and might surprise England.

'I don't think we would do much differently, defend better at short corners perhaps. Simply, England took the chances, we didn't.'

Scotland striker Kevin Gallacher is confident Brown's boys can overcome England at Wembley, even though he will not be in the line up after being booked for the second time in the tournament.

Gallacher said: 'I think we can do it. We've showed that we can play them off the park, play football. We've just got to get the other side right and take our chances.

'I just hope we can give the fans something to shout about because we did play well, we just never put the ball in the net. If we can do that then I can see us turning it around at Wembley.'

Gallacher also criticised referee Manuel Diaz Vega for the yellow card which has robbed him of the chance of playing in Wednesday's second leg.

Gallacher added: 'I've gone in on a challenge with Michael (Owen). I thought he fell over. There was nothing malicious in it and I thought you only got booked for malicious tackles.

'It was soft, but I thought he (Vega) brandished one or two too many cards. But there's nothing we can do about that.'

Gallacher, though, did take his hat off to England hero Scholes as he said: 'I don't think he was in the game very often, but when he was he showed what he can do because he was in twice and he scored two goals.'

'The lads are gutted because we thought we played well, but we know that if you don't take your chances in football then you don't win games.

'I'm very disappointed to be out of the return leg and to be honest everything seems to have gone against me today - they were always going to go against someone.

'At times the England goal was bombarded with shots from Scotland, but the ball stayed out and now we've made it very hard for ourselves on Wednesday night.'

When asked about his chance to level just moments after Paul Scholes had put England ahead on 21 minutes, Gallacher admitted it was an opening he should have taken.

Gallacher added: 'Two of their defenders collided (Sol Campbell and Martin Keown) and I managed to kick the ball clear and run clear of them both.

'I tried to send David Seaman the wrong way but I didn't manage to lift the ball high enough over the keeper. Nine times out of 10 I think I'd have finished with it.

'It's hard to take because everything seems to have gone against me. Missing a couple of chances I should have scored and missing the second leg with a yellow card.

Gallacher will consult his club manager Bobby Robson about what he does next but revealed he plans to ask national coach Brown if he can remain with the squad at their Troon base.

He explained: 'I'd like to stay part of things because I think that's the right thing to do for team spirit and team morale.

'I still want to be there at the second leg at Wembley so I'll have to talk to a few people about that. I want to be there even it means me sitting in the dug-out.'