GORDON Strachan last night admitted he was content with the position that Scotland are in entering their final Russia 2018 qualifying games next month - with their World Cup fate in their own hands.
Strachan's side followed up their 3-0 victory over Lithuania in Vilnius on Friday evening with a comfortable 2-0 win over Malta at Hampden.
The national team is now just one point behind second-placed Slovakia, who they play at home on October 5, and only behind Slovenia, who they take on away three days later, on goal difference.
The runners-up in Group F should go into a play-off - and Scotland will make sure it is them if they win both of their last two matches.
Strachan, whose team has picked up 10 points out of a possible 12 in their last four games, admitted it was a healthy position to be in.
“I’m alright with that," he said. "When you get to the stage when you your fate is in your own hands in a tournament that’s all you can ask.
"You can look back and say we could have done better there, there and there but we have tried to make up for bad performances or low key performances by doing the best we can.
"I was pleased with loads of things. They had the belief when things weren’t going well to pick themselves up and go again. They showed that no matter what the belief was elsewhere, they had belief in themselves.
"We have put ourselves in a position now where we go into the final couple of games still with a chance of getting to the play-offs.”
Strachan added: “I’m looking forward to getting a decent cup of tea. I might start thinking about that later on. I’m not thinking about that right now.
“We have to keep an eye on the players for the next four or five weeks, make sure they are all on top form. By the time it comes round again, there might be other guys ready to go or some guys injured. That’s what we will be doing for the next month.”
Scott Brown, Grant Hanley, James McArthur, Charlie Mulgrew and Leigh Griffiths were all one booking away from picking up suspensions and Strachan felt that may have subconsciously affected their performance against Malta.
"That could have been at the back of their minds at times," he said. "They were making sure they weren't getting involved in anything that might give them another yellow card.
"I think that affected one or two tackles or when they went in for the ball. They were just making sure they weren’t getting involved. They had to play really low tempo.
"I even asked them not to get excited with the referee or get a yellow card for anything. It had to be a bit more low tempo to make sure the guys got through that so that’s a bonus as well.”
Strachan continued: “But to have 25 attempts at goal says it all. That is 48 for the last two games. That’s good enough to win games of football if you make that amount of chances. You don’t make that amount of chances all the time at international level."
Strachan revealed that he was unaware of what was happening at Wembley, where England fell behind to Slovakia early on during the game. “Did they go in the lead?" he said. "I didn’t know that.
"Seriously, I didn’t even think about it. I heard the roar maybe 30 minutes in and I thought ‘well that’s them scored’, but I didn’t know that Slovakia had scored first. I think I had enough to worry about.”
Leigh Griffiths, who scored Scotland's second goal in the second half, limped off with a calf strain, but Strachan is confident he will be fit to play for Celtic in their Champions League match against Paris Saint-Germain next week.
Pietro Ghedin, the Malta manager, was proud of how his side performed, but tipped Scotland to finish ahead of both Slovakia and Slovenia
"It was a difficult game for us," he said. "Scotland played really well for 90 minute. They pushed all the time. But I am very happy with our performance. The commitment was very beautiful.
"Scotland won and I think they can achieve second place and get into the play-off. They are ready. If they play like they have been then they will get there.
"Scotland played really well. They were like a machine. They want to score all the time. Maybe they deserve to score one goal more."
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