'Chris miss a sliding door'.

Byline: JOHN HILLCOAT

I WAS reminded of the movie Sliding Doors after watching poor Chris Iwelumo blow THAT chance against Norway at Hampden last weekend.

In the film Gwyneth Paltrow's love life and career hinge on whether or not she catches a train.

She reaches the doors just as they close and that changes her fate - as she pops home to find her man playing Buckaroo with another woman.

But if Gwyneth HAD caught the train her life would have carried on regardless and she never would have caught her cheating hubby.

The doors of the train changed her life in a split second and things were never the same again.

I welumo's Sliding Doors moment came on Saturday during a Scotland debut nobody will ever forget.

The Wolves striker's miss from almost three yards was simply unbelievable.

Everyone watching the game thought Iwelumo had done a Kirk Broadfoot and silenced the doubters by scoring on his debut.

But it wasn't to be as he somehow managed to send the ball wide with the goal gaping. It was a life-changing moment and the 30-year-old will be thinking about how things could have turned out.

If I welumo had scored instead of doing a Peter van Vossen, who incidentally scored his first competitive goal for Rangers against me when I was at Clyde, his fate would have been so different.

That goal would have set us up nicely for our trip to Holland in March and big Chris would have been the best thing to come out of Coatbridge since Buckfast.

Afterwards the nation would have been thanking him instead of the poor sod having to apologise.

And George Burley would have been hailed for showing faith in the rookie instead of caving in to media and fan pressure.

The snipers were taking aim from the Hampden stands even before keeper Jon Knudsen had taken the goal kick.

I firmly believe things happen for a reason and "if" is a small word with so much meaning.

But Iwelumo's Scotland fate is now in the hands of the Highland gods.

We will find out soon enough if the international door has been shut on his face just like those train doors with the bold Gwyneth.

Iwelumo's miss would have been hard enough for boss Burley to take as he came to terms with two dropped points on Saturday night.

But his evening soon got a lot worse with the news Rangers striker Kris Boyd had given him a custard pie.

I thought Boyd's decision to quit the international set-up for as long as Burley is in charge was premature.

Don't get me wrong, big Kris is the best goalscorer Scotland have had since Ally McCoist and he should play at all times.

I still can't fathom why managers don't pick him due to his lack of work rate outside the box.

I couldn't give a hoot if he smoked a King Edward cigar on the halfway line just as long as he stuck the ball in the net every time he was in the box.

You could almost see it was the end of the road after Boyd's latest Scots snub.

His body language at the Norway game suggested he was fed up with Burley's reign already.

But if the striker had kept the frustrations to himself things could have worked out in his favour.

There's still uncertainty over Burley's position and a new man could be in charge before the end of our campaign.

Plenty of players fall out with the management but I've only witnessed it first hand a few times in my career.

The most memorable spat came in 1987 when St Mirren beat Tromso in the Cup Winners' Cup.

Alex Smith was gaffer at the time and ordered all the YTS lads to be ball boys so St Mirren could dictate the pace of the game when the ball went out of play.

I was at the Northbank end of Love Street and remember seeing Buddies legend Frank McGarvey get subbed by the gaffer.

Frank went straight up the tunnel and had a few choice words with assistant boss Jimmy Bone.

By all accounts it was like Paisley Cross on a Saturday night in the dressing-room as Jimmy and Frank went for it big time.

This didn't go down well with the gaffer and Frank never played for him again.

He was ordered to train on his own but circumstances soon changed dramatically as Alex and Jimmy were axed not long after the ding-dong.

And in an ironic twist McGarvey took Jimmy's place as assistant manager.

You never know what's around the corner in football - so maybe Boyd should have hung in there a bit longer.