THE National Stadium in Warsaw is the most fitting arena for dramatic denouements.

It is a wonderful sporting theatre and it witnessed the most extraordinary match last night.

Put simply, Scotland drew with Poland with goals by Shaun Maloney and Steven Naismith being matched by strikes from Kryzstof Maczynski and Arkadiusz Milik.

However, this is akin to saying that Jaws was the story of a weekend fishing trip. This was pulsating, thrilling and utterly unpredictable to the end.

Scotland needed strength of will to come back and take the lead after losing an early goal. They needed resilience in withstanding a Polish siege at the end. But this was a point well made by Gordon Strachan and his side.

To beat the team that beat the world champions was a distinct possibility as Scotland produced the best performance of recent times with the central defence obdurate in the face of Robert Lewandowski and James Morrison and Shaun Maloney bright, inventive and astute in midfield. Ikechi Anya continue to give his impression of a top-class player while playing in the second division of English football.

The rest were not half bad either, though this was not a night to search for a best of Alan Hutton tape. Most impressively, Scotland looked confident in their game plan and determined to apply it in a night where they largely wrote the script but could not quite garnish it with the best of endings.

The early intrigue concerned the omission of Andrew Robertson at left-full back to be replaced by the more experienced Steven Whittaker of Norwich City. The other change for Saturday's victory over Georgia was enforced, Gordon Greer replacing the injured Grant Hanley to reprise a central defensive partnership with Russell Martin that defied Poland in Scotland's 1-0 victory in March.

Strachan promised only a "tweak" to the team that faced Georgia and it was Robertson who felt the pinch. It was the other full-back, however, who caused Scotland early pain.

Hutton was deeply unconvincing when trying to cut out a Polish through ball after 11 minutes, simply knocking it to Maczynski who drove the ball into the net off the post. The Aston Villa full-back also allowed Maczynski to drift off him to almost calamitous effect late in the first half - with Whittaker rescuing the situation - but it was his first, feckless clearance that was punished to full effect. He was partially to blame, too, for the Polish equaliser.

The ear-splitting roar that greeted this opener could have heralded a Scottish collapse. It has in the past. But instead it was the prelude to a sublime equaliser six minutes later. Steven Fletcher hoisted a clever ball wide to Anya whose first touch killed the pass and his second gave Maloney the opportunity to pass the ball into the net past Wojciech Szczesny.

With parity restored, Scotland assumed a mostly comfortable stance. The final ball in the final third could not be found but Fletcher was an irritant, drawing fouls and winning headers, while Robert Lewandowski laboured after a knock in a block by Greer. Indeed, the Sunderland striker had a half chance after 33 minutes but dragged his shot wide after a sharp pass from James Morrison while the Bayern Munich striker found Martin a formidable obstacle when space was presented.

There was defiance and a hint of menace in Scotland. The first was epitomised by Martin and Greer and the second by an attack that was enterprising and marked by the swift incursions by Anya.

His contribution to the equaliser was obvious but he switched wings as the first act of this deafening drama approached the end. He escaped Artur Jedrzejczyk, the 27-year-old Krasnodar defender and world-record Scrabble score, and crossed for the predatory Naismith to be denied by a lunge from Lukasz Szukala that was so desperate it could have been christened Dan.

Yet Scotland could walk off at half-time with an air of confidence. On the restart Milik, one the goal heroes of the victory against Germany, snatched at two opportunities as Poland tried to increase the tempo.

More than 50,000 Poles roared for a final act that would bring a happy ending for them to an evening of high and constant drama but it was Scotland who took the lead. Morrison, who was quietly impressive all night, took a free kick after a marauding Maloney had been felled and Naismith stretched to tuck the ball beyond Szczesny.

It was the Tartan Army who were suddenly in full voice, perched up in the gods in a state of heavenly bliss. Their mood was almost brought down to earth but Milik was again feckless when given room in the box, his header dipping over the bar.

There were other alarms, most notably when Kamil Grosicki ran inside Whittaker and then Milik drove across goal but Scotland held firm.

Darren Fletcher and Chris Martin were brought on to replace Fletcher and Naismith with 20 minutes to play as Strachan sought to introduce stability in midfield and freshness in attack. It was the Manchester United player who prompted an attack that stretched the length of the field and demanded a good Szczesny save from Maloney.

But Milik soured the night for Strachan, running inside Hutton to thrash a Jedrzejczyk pass into the net. Lewandowski could have made it much worse but Marshall saved brilliantly. It was no less than Scotland deserved.

The last word of a brilliant drama was given to a roaring, jubilant Tartan Army who may have been disappointed by the late equaliser but were enthralled by the performance of their heroes.