FOR the first time in a long while, a glimmer of optimism surrounds the Scottish national team. They left it late last Sunday against Slovenia but, having secured only their second win of the campaign, the door to next summer’s World Cup finals remains marginally ajar for Gordon Strachan and his players. Turning that slender possibility into something more concrete over the next six months now becomes the hard part.

At the halfway stage Scotland find themselves in fourth place in Group F. With England having all but sewn up the one automatic qualifying place for the group winner, a three, possibly four, team shoot-out for the right to finish as runners-up now looks likely. Even then there could be a possible sting in the tail. The country with the worst record of the nine second-placed finishers won’t make the play-offs and it would be the most Scottish thing in the world were the national team to exit in such an excruciatingly frustrating fashion.

Should they place among the top eight, however, then they could approach a play-off with a degree of confidence while keeping their fingers crossed the luck of the draw goes in their favour. Among those currently in the reckoning are Northern Ireland, the Republic of Ireland and Greece, none of whom would necessarily be considered an insurmountable hurdle on the road to Moscow for a Scotland team with their tail up.

In truth, they have got some way to go before they can even start worrying about trying to figure out those permutations. Two points behind Slovakia and one point behind Slovenia, there is little room for error going into the second half of the campaign. That may mean requiring to take a point from England at home in their next match, winning in Lithuania and/or Slovenia, and beating Slovakia and Malta at home. The final two games – at home to Slovakia and then away to Slovenia in the space of four days in October – could well be a true test of Scottish mettle, assuming they suffer no more slip-ups between now and then. And you would not confidently bet the mortgage on that.

Still, at least there is now some basis for optimism where previously it had all but expired. Victory over Slovenia has also ensured Strachan will continue in the manager’s role which, even if that will not please every member of the Tartan Army, at least ensures a level of continuity in the build-up towards the England clash on June 10.

They could have sold out Hampden twice over for that match regardless of the circumstances but, with Scotland now having something more tangible to aim for, it takes on an additional competitive hue. Scotland would like nothing more to be the first team to score past England in this group, while the visitors would take great satisfaction from delivering the defeat that would put another dent in Scotland’s chances of joining them in Russia next summer.

“If we hadn’t picked up a result last weekend we would have been too far behind so we’ve managed to get right in behind Slovakia and Slovenia,” said Andy Robertson, the Hull City defender. “So the England game will have a bit more of a competitive edge to it. These games always have an edge, mind you. You remember the friendlies we played recently and the tackles were flying in. But it will mean a wee bit more now.

“We have a bit of momentum. A last-minute goal [against Slovenia] tends to give you that, as does a win. So we have a bit of momentum going into the summer and we can look forward to the England game. They will bring a massive support and it will be a sell-out. It’s a game we’ll relish and hopefully we can use the home support to our advantage.”

In the campaign to reach last summer’s European Championships, Scotland started strongly but faded badly in the second half. The hope now is that the opposite will materialise.

“In the last campaign we got off to a flier and picked up all the points that we realistically should have,” Robertson said. “We lost in Germany but there was no disgrace in that. But in the second half of the campaign we were disappointing. Hopefully it will be different this time and we get a good run-in until the end. If we do that we’ll see where it might take us.”

Scotland needed to beat Slovenia to maintain any chance of qualifying and Strachan’s tactical tinkering was rewarded with a late winning goal from Chris Martin. Among many bold decisions was the one to pitch in six Celtic players and look to capitalise on their burgeoning confidence and sense of togetherness.

“It was a bit unusual but the way Gordon Strachan plays and the way Brendan Rodgers plays is completely different,” Robertson said. “So the Celtic players came in the team with us and we all learned as a unit, rather than it being them and us. It might have made it easier for Stuart Armstrong to come in for his first start and have Broony [Scott Brown] and James Forrest in there too as he knew their runs and how they like to play. And the other Celtic boys have all been in the set-up long enough to know the rest of us already.”

Another experiment was to thrust Kieran Tierney into an accustomed right-back role. It required the 19-year-old to adjust his natural inclination to run down the line as he tends to do from left-back but his tenacity and effectiveness remained undiminished regardless. Robertson, who clung on to the left-back position, was full of praise for his team-mate’s display.

“In training all week KT had been playing there so we knew early doors that he would be starting at right-back,” the 23-year-old said. “I thought he did brilliantly there. We’ll both fight for the left-back slot but if one of us has to fill in at right-back then we’ll do that. I’ve never played there before. I’ve tried it in training and it’s a difficult to get used to as you’re accustomed to going down the left and everything is the opposite. But I thought KT never showed that in the game and he and the whole back four was spot on.

“Kieran and I have both been doing well for our clubs but we’re both still young as well with a lot of learning to do. Hopefully we can do that. It’s good to have two experienced centre backs in Charlie [Mulgrew] and Russell [Martin] to talk us through the game as well. We looked like a solid unit.”

The unearthing of Armstrong as an international with some promise was another positive on the night.

Former Celtic team-mate Mulgrew said: “He does unselfish running, he is good on the ball, and is powerful. Brendan Rodgers has just got that wee bit more from him in terms of pushing forward and scoring more goals. He was great on his debut. He took a lot of pressure off the defence the way he held the ball and carried it forward. You wait all your life to play for Scotland and when it comes up you grab it. Stu did that.”