EVEN by Scotland’s own woeful standards, the friendly international against Canada at Easter Road on Wednesday evening was an utterly wretched affair.

A crowd of little over 9,000 turned up to watch the national team perform poorly on a sodden pitch in the perishing cold and struggle to salvage a 1-1 draw against opponents who are 117th in the FIFA world rankings.

Hell, it was so bad that not even Gordon Strachan enjoyed the experience. “I can tell you, late on, I’d rather have been somewhere else,” the manager admitted yesterday as he looked back on the forgettable outing.

“I’m sure no-one was skipping out their house going to the Canada game and thinking: ‘Wow! This is a beauty this one!’"

The display and final result did not augur especially well for a Russia 2018 qualifier against Slovenia at Hampden tomorrow evening that the home team need to win to stand any chance of progressing to the World Cup finals next year.

Strachan, though, has no concerns that the insipid showing will be repeated or the embarrassing outcome will be the same in the Group F match in Glasgow this weekend. Indeed, he believes the run-out has served an invaluable purpose.

“We’ll be better than that on Sunday," he said. "We had to find out a few things in the Canada game and sometimes when you need to find out things you need to take a smack.

“In terms of the result, we took a smack. But in terms of whether it was the right thing to do, in taking a game, I think more so now than ever. That’s one of the best decisions we’ve ever made, taking that game.

“There is an adrenaline factor which will be there on Sunday night. But it’ll be different at Hampden. There will be a shot of adrenaline which will give us the extra boost we need and that extra little bit of confidence.

“The conditions weren’t great. But there were things learned on Wednesday night which were good to learn. It wasn’t a great evening for us, but hopefully on Sunday we get the benefit of it.

“We’ll pick a team on Saturday night and hopefully on Sunday we get a performance which made that game on Wednesday worthwhile.”

The starting line-up which Strachan will field will certainly bear no resemblance to the one which kicked off the game in midweek. For a start, the six Celtic players in the squad, Stuart Armstrong, Scott Brown, James Forrest, Craig Gordon, Leigh Griffiths and Kieran Tierney, all have a good chance of being involved.

The sextet have been enjoying life at Parkhead under Brendan Rodgers this season; they qualified for the group stages of the Champions League for the first time in three years and are undefeated domestically.

The Scotland manager is hopeful they can lift a campaign which is floundering after a home draw against Lithuania and away defeats to Slovakia and England. “We have the Celtic lads and the boys from West Brom, who are eighth in the Premier League, here,” he said. “So there are a few lads feeling good about themselves."

Strachan, who was urged to stay on by the Tartan Army despite failing to reach the Euro 2016 finals, survived calls to be sacked in the aftermath of the 3-0 defeat to England at Wembley back in November.

However, the vote of confidence which he received from the SFA board in the wake of that reverse will be rendered meaningless if his side, second bottom of their section, lose tomorrow night.

The man who stood down as Middlesbrough boss of his own volition after a disappointing run of results won’t need to be told that his time is up.

But the 60-year-old is confident that if his charges can replicate the display they produced against Gareth Southgate’s side in London and score goals then they should produce a long overdue victory and ease the pressure that is building on him.

“We went for broke, but they (England) only had three headers on target,” he said. “I was really pleased with that performance, even though I think people may think that a bit silly.

“The players were unfairly treated that night by the footballing Gods. We will produce something like that again on Sunday, but we will score a goal.”

However, Strachan doesn’t have his problems to seek up front. Just one of the five strikers he has selected, Jordan Rhodes, is featuring at club level on a weekly basis.

And even Rhodes, who has moved from Barclays Premier League strugglers Middlesbrough to Sky Bet Championship club Sheffield Wednesday, has only netted three times this term.

The manager admitted it would be asking a lot of squad members to hit peak form in such an important fixture if they are not starting regularly.

“It’s very hard for players who are not playing,” he said. “There is only one player who has bucked that trend and it’s Alan Hutton. He didn’t get a game for his club, but he came and played well for us.

“But it’s very hard to find form at international level. Especially when you need to realise they’re maybe a bit nervous and are thinking: ‘This could be my chance to get into the team’.

“Also, you need to be fair to players. There are some who it would be very unfair on them to play them in a World Cup game.”

How the man, or men, up front performs will be crucial to how Scotland get on and whether Gordon Strachan remains in charge for the rematch with England in the summer.