WhAT we have been calling these "must-win" matches are meaningful only if they amount to something in the end.

The temptation to present a game like Saturday's at Ibrox as if it was a cup final - all or nothing - can be pretty powerful, but it's not accurate. Scotland really would have been flailing if they had spilled more Euro 2016 points from their first home fixture. Winning it brought no immediate reward whatsoever but allowed them to bounce on to the next, higher hurdle of Poland away tomorrow night.

Warsaw is not a must-win, but it is a mustn't lose. These are early days for projections on how the campaign has to pan out - unexpected results like the Poles beating the Germans throw little spanners in the works - but there need be no apology for speculating on where Scotland must harvest their points if the long nuclear winter of failed qualification campaigns is to end.

Saturday was the first of what look like five "must-win" games to reach Euro 2016: Gibraltar home and away (they already have been used as target practice by the Poles and Irish), then the Republic of Ireland and Poland fixtures in Glasgow.

A draw tomorrow night would be satisfactory, as would a point from the trip to Dublin. A draw in Georgia and one at home to the Germans would take Scotland to 19 points from a possible 30, and almost certainly qualification.

Putting it like that is a reminder of how far Scotland have to go. Beating Georgia amounted to the creation of base camp. Taking at least one point from Warsaw and beating the Irish in the final qualifier this year would have Gordon Strachan's men on seven points from four games, a healthy position given that the trip to Germany is over and done with. Did they play against Georgia like a set of players capable of delivering on that? Overall, yes, just about.

On paper Saturday's game was the third easiest they will face in the group after the formalities of dealing with Gibraltar.

Georgia are the section's fifth seeds and it took an own goal to put them away in Glasgow. It was confirmation that nearly every game in the group will demand relentless hard work and focus from Scotland. Thankfully those qualities seem bountiful among the players Strachan has assembled.

They grafted and sweated, they snapped into tackles, and they worked tirelessly to close Georgia down. That was the essential, underpinning foundation of a generally impressive performance. Scotland's attitude was excellent.

The team had no conspicuous failures. Andy Robertson's athleticism, hunger and crossing were outstanding on his competitive debut at left-back. One of them led to the winner when goalkeeper Giorgi Loria pushed away his high ball and it came to Shaun Maloney. The wee man's firm, low strike bounced up and was parried by Loria only to rebound off defender Akaki Khubutia's calf into his own net. Hard on the goalkeeper, that one.

Alan Hutton was a match for Robertson in everything but the quality of his deliveries. It was lovely to watch a Scotland team with the verve and movement of a pair of attacking full-backs and two lively wide men, Maloney and Ikechi Anya.

Some of the interplay involving Maloney, Steven Naismith and Steven Fletcher was clever, exciting and encouraging. Maloney's energy and invention were great. Fletcher continues to be a striker who does not score for Scotland - he has one in 16 caps - yet he played the role with intelligence and awareness.

Just before half-time he slipped a pass to give Naismith a real chance. The goalkeeper kept it out, denied Naismith again later, and also blocked a couple of Fletcher efforts.

Scott Brown's tackling and ball-winning were tenacious. He set a driving, forceful example to the others. "The team played well but sometimes it looked like he was picking up two and saying 'come on, let's go with me," said Strachan.

Was Brown better now than when he signed him for Celtic? "Oh, yes. Definitely. He was bombing on when he was younger. He is doing things now like picking the ball up off the back four. But he does not do it like a Michael Carrick.

"He does it and rolls people in the middle of the park and shrugs them off, so it is different. And his passing I thought was terrific."

It would be wrong for anyone to lose their heads about how good it was. In the first quarter-of-an-hour Brown, Naismith, James Morrison and Russell Martin had all given the ball away at least once. Maloney had a couple of wild swipes when he tried to shoot and his crossing and set-pieces were not to his usual standard. The same could be said of Naismith's touch, which was patchy all through the afternoon until he was substituted. With an hour gone Grant Hanley lost Nikoloz Gelashvili, who then blazed a shot over the bar when he might easily have done better. David Marshall did not have a shot to save all afternoon and the defence was generally assured, but that moment and a miss by Irakli Dzaria were sobering.

No campaign can prosper without home wins against lower-ranked teams. Neither Macedonia nor Wales were beaten in the last campaign and it took a minor miracle to get three Hampden points off Liechtenstein in the one before that. Beating Georgia meant Scotland put down the first foundation stone on Saturday. The first of the must-wins was won.