Source: Team_Talk
Hartley hopes to repeat France shock
George Burley's men travel to the Netherlands looking for at least a point against one of the best nations in the world in a bid to kickstart their ailing 2010 qualification campaign.
The Dutch sit at the summit of Group 9 with a 100% record so far and Hartley knows few will expect the Scots to come out on top in the Amsterdam ArenA.
But the Celtic midfielder argues that no-one would have tipped the now infamous victory in the Parc des Princes in September 2007 which helped take Scotland to within touching distance of last summer's European championships.
Hartley played the full 90 minutes of that memorable night in Paris and has refused to rule out another shock result for a country who relish being the underdog.
"I hope it is a similar game and I hope it's the right result for us," he said.
"Any time we go away from home - it doesn't matter who you are playing against - it's always going to be a hard game.
"But you only have to look back 18 months ago when we played France and nobody expected us to get a result and we managed to get three points. So why not?
"We know on their day that they are a quality team and we have to make it difficult for them. You never know, maybe we can get something."
Scotland play host to Iceland the following midweek and Hartley knows points on the board are essential to keep their qualification hopes alive.
He added: "It would be good to get six points from the two games but, if not, four points would be fantastic. We know it's going to be a big ask.
"Saturday's game is going to be an extremely tough game but we have shown in the past that, when we are up against the bigger teams, we always manage to get a good result."
Hartley is refusing to even consider a repeat of the last meeting with Holland which saw the Scots suffer a humiliating 6-0 defeat in a European Championship play-off back in 2003.
Confidence had been high ahead of the visit to Amsterdam after a morale-boosting 1-0 win at Hampden a few days earlier but the Dutch ran riot on what proved to be a disastrous night for Scotland.
"I watched the game but I don't want to think about it because it's in the past," said Hartley.
"I know there are one or two players who played that night but it's a new team so we have to forget about it.
"That's what happens in football, you have to forget about the result and look forward to the game on Saturday and not dwell on the past."
However, Hartley concedes that Holland's class of 2009 is probably every bit as impressive as the one who dished out that humbling defeat.
He said: "They are strong all over the pitch, they have excellent midfielders and forwards. I don't think you can look at one player in particular.
"On their day, they are as good as anyone.
"But we have to go there and try to make it difficult for them and take the game to them.
"We know that for long spells of the match they will have possession but it's how we play when we have the ball.
"If we get a chance, we have to take it."
