IT’S the hope that kills you. A phrase that has been rolled out time and time again in the last 19 years to describe the fortunes of our national team. Yes, it has been nearly two decades since we qualified for a major tournament.

I can still remember as a wide eyed 16-year-old kid watching wee Craig Brown leading us out that tunnel in Paris to take on the mighty Brazil. We have had fantastic results in qualifiers in the ensuing time including beating France home and away only for us to choke against the likes of Georgia and the Faroe Islands. There have been some heartbreakers along the way, where a goal or bad break has ended up costing us qualification. I am praying that history doesn't repeat itself in this campaign. But we have left ourselves with no margin of error.

We now have three games left which has the attached phrase that strikes fear into the hearts of every member of the Tartan Army. Three must wins.

After a very slow start to this campaign, we left ourselves with four games we simply had to win and still have to hope for a favour along the way.

Of the four remaining games we had ahead of Friday, we have started off in what looked like a tough game away to Lithuania with a very positive performance and straightforward 3-0 win. It's a game that in the past we might have blown. However, we took care of them easily.

But let’s not get carried away. This is a Lithuania side that has won just two qualifiers in the last three years, and those were against Malta and San Marino. They are bang average in international terms. We had to pick up six points from six against them. We really had to. Except we drew at Hampden.

Lithuania, a team that we played one recognised striker against at home – dropping two precious points. And it wasn't the 40-goal striker we went with. No, he was on the bench. To not play Leigh Griffiths, or at least go two up front against them at home was, in my opinion, criminal. Hopefully it doesn't still cost us.

For me, Gordon Strachan is a top-class manager, and I don't see many better out there, or more qualified, to come in and lead our national team. He knows the game inside out. I desperately hope we go on and win our last three games to sneak a play-off place because all the momentum is now with us. We are capable of doing it but I have always thought that anyway. I am a great believer in the squad of players we have to choose from but feel we should be doing better than we have been. I expected us to get second place in this group. We just had to pick the right players from that squad and until now I feel we haven't been doing that.

And that I'm afraid is down to Gordon.

It took until we got to the point of no return at Wembley to finally unleash Griffiths, and allow him to have a go. The shackles were off and we played with freedom and courage. That has continued in our performances since then. Okay, we lost 3-0 against England, but the performance was very encouraging and finally we looked threatening going forward.

The team that just trounced Lithuania and should have beaten England is night and day from the team that got thumped in Slovakia and toiled badly against the Lithuanians at home. Has Gordon done anything different in terms of training or preparation? I wouldn't have thought so, to be honest.

Quite simply he is playing our best players. He is playing guys who are turning out every week for their clubs and who are in form. It's not down to which club they play for in England or how much they cost. His blind faith and loyalty towards certain guys playing, particularly in the Championship, down south has been staggering.

A league second only in hype to the English Premiers League. Guys like Russell Martin, Grant Hanley and Chris Martin, who were mainstays early in the campaign, have been binned in favour of the likes of Christophe Berra, Stuart Armstrong and Griffiths. All guys playing really well every week in our own domestic league. Except probably the unlucky Callum McGregor, Strachan is now picking a team that most people in the country would agree with.

The effect of Scott Brown coming back in cannot be underestimated, on and off the pitch. He has been in fantastic form for Celtic and is a man Gordon Strachan trusts completely. He was very hasty in announcing he was retiring, but realised his mistake quickly and was welcomed back into the fray. He has made a huge difference in the middle of the park, and though Darren Fletcher is a fantastic player and pro, again he has looked a yard off it at international level for the past year or two; but again, he was another automatic pick.

We simply cannot afford any more mistakes for the rest of this campaign if we are to find ourselves in a precious play-off spot.

The momentum and confidence is surging within the squad. We do have the players and the manager to get to a major tournament again. But we need to believe it in our hearts. Lesser teams than us have pitched up at the big table in recent years.

I just pray that early mistakes and dropped points don't come back to haunt us.