At a rickety wee stadium in the city of Elbasan, nestling high among the mountains, Billy Stark�s side begun their 2011 European Championships campaign with a well-earned single-goal victory.

There was at least some good news for Scottish football on Saturday. At a rickety wee stadium in the city of Elbasan, nestling high among the mountains, Billy Stark's side begun their 2011 European Championships campaign with a well-earned single-goal victory over Albania, which ensured an early three-point advantage over the rest of Group 10.

Beginning your campaign with a double-header against the same unknown opposition four months before anyone else enters the competition was a unique and high-risk strategy, but another win like this at the Falkirk Stadium on Wednesday night and Stark will feel vindicated.

Like all 1-0 victories, the zero was as important as the one. Aberdeen's Chris Maguire may have stolen the headlines for the well-struck penalty winner with four minutes to go which secured the points, but this triumph was even more impressive considering it was built on a back four which looked as if it had been picked out of a tombola.

The absence of Brian Easton of Hamilton Academical, Lewis Stevenson of Hibernian and Celtic's Jason Marr had given Stark a problem and his solution was to pick a central pair of Falkirk's Tam Scobbie and Paul Hanlon of Hibs, two players more conventionally sighted at left-back, with the right-footed Chris Mitchell, also of Falkirk, coming in at left-back. The full-back on the other side was Paul Caddis, a man who for the last couple of months has been playing on the wing for Dundee United.

Those who witnessed the recent friendly defeat against Northern Ireland at New Douglas Park, where a similarly untested defence backfired spectacularly, might have had concerns, particularly during a fraught opening spell when Jahmir Hyka, the Albanians' star man, and their height from set pieces were causing problems. But the Scots were resolute. Mitchell tucked in intelligently and made some crucial interceptions, Scobbie won every header going, Hanlon read the game like an international veteran, and Caddis kept driving forward to help set up the penalty.

On those rare occasions when they did get through, the Albanians found a formidable obstacle in Alan Martin, the former Motherwell goalkeeper who was previously linked with Rangers but moved to Leeds United instead and is now out on loan at Conference side Barrow.

Martin's debut and only previous appearance at this level lasted just 12 minutes due to injury but his early tip over from a Ditmar Bicaj header was every bit as crucial to the outcome as Maguire's penalty.

"It was an important save," Martin said, "but I couldn't care less about getting the credit for the win. It is great to make saves but you can get a 10 out of 10 for not making any saves.

"Jim Leighton the under-21 goalkeeping coach told me before the game not to go rushing into saves, you will always get one in the game, whether it is the first minute or the last minute."

With Barry Bannan of Derby, Motherwell's Jamie Murphy and Kevin McDonald of Burnley the main creative influences, John Fleck was given just 12 minutes from the bench, and part of the managerial chess match before Wednesday night's rematch will centre on whether Stark gives him more playing time at Falkirk.

One thing is for sure, early points on the board are a blessing considering this squad will have developed significantly by the time the campaign draws to a close in September 2010.

"It would be great to get a six-point lead, although they Albania are a tough side," Martin said. "But we're at home now so I think we can get a great start and leave the other teams chasing us."

It would certainly make a change.