Married just last week Matt Ritchie ensured himself an extended honeymoon with Scotland supporters after opening his goal-scoring account for the national team at Easter Road last night.

New wife Emma had hoped to be on the shores of the Indian Ocean but her only taste of the East was watching her husband facing Qatar's finest, however he more than salvaged the situation by registering the goal that earned his side a narrow but deserved win.

"It felt fantastic," the 25-year-old said of his goal.

"I think it was probably not a typical friendly but had a friendly feel about it. A lot of lads hadn't played for three or four weeks and it showed, but we played some good stuff towards the end.

"Although it was a friendly, it's special and I'll remember it forever," he said.

He acknowledged, however, that he should have done better with a previous chance so the goal was overdue when it arrived.

"The volley before that, I should have gone across goal but couldn't make my mind up. I was delighted to get the next one," he said.

The win completed a wonderful few days for the Bournemouth winger, albeit his selection for Scotland left him with some explaining to do at home.

"The wedding was booked when I got called into the squad," he said.

"Luckily enough it fell on May 30, so the honeymoon is tomorrow, for two days in Edinburgh.

"We hadn't booked anything, but now we'll just be relaxing and recouping for next week, staying in the hotel. The aim is to get three points.

"The Maldives was mentioned as a honeymoon destination, so she's been very understanding."

Ritchie admitted that he might have been given something of an assist with his goal by an unwelcome naked pitch invader who may have disturbed the focus of Qatari central defender Ahmed Yasser Abdelrhman after engaging him in a lengthy handshake which, as the Scotland man observed, might have had very different consequences had the fixture been played on the other team's home ground.

"The streaker gave me a breather just before my goal, I think," he reckoned.

"Maybe he distracted their defence, too. It's not what they're used to back at home... it's very illegal.

"He was on for quite a while, too. I'm not sure what the stewards were doing."

Either way it continued his personal momentum in what has already been an extraordinary season.

Ritchie was part of one of the great fairytale stories of recent times when he helped his club Bournemouth earn a place in the English Premiership for the first time in their history and doing so has helped the Gosport born player, who is qualified for Scotland thanks to his Scottish father, catch the eye of Gordon Strachan and earn this opportunity to play international football.

"It's been a fantastic season at club level and to get called up for Scotland has been a dream come true," said Ritchie.

"It's been an unbelievable year. Hopefully it continues as long as possible."

What will make it absolutely perfect for him will be if he can play a part in securing three vital points in next week's European Championship qualifier in Dublin.

The win may not have been terribly impressive in its own right against opponents who are some seventy places below Scotland in the world rankings, but he believes that this match did its job in getting the team up to pace for the meeting with Ireland which looks set to prove crucial in terms of giving Scotland the chance to qualify for the finals of a major championship for the first time in 18 years.

While their manager has spoken confidently about the conditioning of his players getting game time was vital and Ritchie said they felt the benefit of it.

"The game tonight was about getting players up to speed. A couple of us hadn't played for three or four weeks," he observed.

"It was all about getting minutes under the belt. At times, it was a very high tempo game and training has been high tempo, so we will be ready for Saturday."