Gordon Strachan admitted he did not enjoy Scotland's performance against Norway last night and conceded that the better team lost.

Scotland finished their 2013 fixtures with a 1-0 win in Molde thanks to a second-half goal, against the run of play, from Scott Brown. Earlier, Celtic's captain had been fortunate not to be punished for a sly kick on Norwegian defender Vegard Forren, similar to the offence for which he is currently serving a three-game Champions League suspension.

The display by his makeshift team gave Strachan limited satisfaction, though. He acknowledged that Scotland's passing had been too poor and players had not been close enough to support each other on a difficult pitch against a tidy Norwegian side. Still, there was pleasure for him in a third consecutive clean sheet and a fourth unbeaten game in a row. On Scotland's last visit to Norway, in 2009, they were taken apart 4-0. David Marshall was in goal that night and he was back again last night. He made some fine saves and was Scotland's most impressive performer.

"I think Norway were the better team," said Strachan. "They played much better combinations and were refreshingly old-fashioned in the first 20 minutes by getting us to turn the strikers chasing into corners. They spooked us a bit. Because Norway were so good at getting us going back the way, we couldn't get going with the system we wanted to play. But we will try it again, because I do believe it can work. The system we fall back on seems to be more reliant.

"But no system works if you can't pass the ball to each other. We couldn't do that well because we got isolated from each other. There weren't groups of three or four lads together, it was two maximum. That isn't something that's happened to us before and on a pitch like that you have to be close together. We will learn lessons from that.

"David Marshall was terrific. None of us played that great after that. It was just a combination of brave defending, good goalkeeping and unfortunate finishing from the Norwegian side. I thought they were better all round. They were close to each other and that is what you need, even on a good pitch. We never had that at any time. We played too flat up front, but we'll learn.

"I wouldn't have liked to see David do that much in the game. He had a couple of great saves. But the lads all seem happy within the group and working together. They dug out a result even though it wasn't going for them. I didn't really enjoy it as a spectacle, from my point of view, but I have enjoyed working with the group throughout the week. That is why we tried to get everyone who started the week something to take back from it, a cap. They all deserve that because they are all hard- working, even though they all haven't played a lot of minutes."

Strachan resisted the temptation to bring on Kris Boyd, and Stuart Armstrong was kept on the bench rather than given a debut. Craig Bryson made his second international appearance three years after the first but was one of a number of players who had low key, disappointing nights.

The manager praised three of his second-half substitutes [a fourth, Christophe Berra, came on deep in stoppage time]. "I enjoyed James McArthur when he came on. I thought Barry Bannan and Craig Conway also did well. It was a wee bonus that the substitutes made us better. There was a lot of work-rate, but that was maybe down to desperation. We had to work that hard, because of us being too far apart and good play from the Norwegians. They had a lot of good players out there."

The best player on the pitch, Norway midfielder Morten Gamst Pedersen, summed up the general feeling among the home side when he said of the result: "It's unbelievable. We absolutely played Scotland off the pitch."