Levein aims for flying start

New Scotland boss Craig Levein believes he can make a winning start against the Czech Republic - despite the national team's failure to win a friendly at Hampden for 14 years.

Levein knows the statistics will be against his men when they take to the field. Scotland last triumphed in an international friendly at the national stadium when they recorded a 1-0 win over Australia back in March 1996.

"I'd love to win the game," said Levein. "I know it's not a competitive match and it's not the be-all and end-all. But I think for everybody's sake, it would be good to put on a good performance and win. I think we are capable of winning the match and I don't see any reason why we should think anything other than that."

He added: "Sometimes, no matter how much of a desire there is to be manager of a successful team, it doesn't always work out that way. But our intention is to try to win.

"We've got good players. I'm not kidding anybody on, I'm not sitting here saying all of a sudden we are going to become a top-10 team in the world.

"We have won three competitive games in the last couple of years and we've not won a friendly at Hampden since 1996.

"We've got a lot of hard work to do but I wouldn't have taken the job if I didn't think we had a decent chance of qualifying for the European Championships."

While George Burley's tenure was tainted by a string of player withdrawals, Levein has not been too disheartened by those he has so far experienced.

Levein named his starting line-up for the friendly international on Tuesday afternoon but was forced into a reshuffle when Birmingham forward James McFadden's groin injury caused problems in training, and West Brom midfielder Graham Dorrans will take his place.

Full-back Lee Wallace is another doubt, with Dundee United's Paul Dixon on standby to make his debut if required. Steven Fletcher has returned to Burnley, while Lee McCulloch looks set to miss out after failing to recover from an ankle injury in time.