Attendance 50,214
Scotland kept their World Cup hopes alive with a 2-0 win over Macedonia at Hampden this afternoon thanks to two second-half goals from Scott Brown and Jamie McFadden.
On a day of torrential rain the first-half matched the weather - dreich and uninspiring, but a vastly-improved second forty-five minutes from the home side means that they can now look forward to the visit of the Netherlands to Mount Florida on Wednesday.
For such a crucial fixture the Scots' build-up had been close to suicidal against a Macedonian side that contained seven of the players who had emerged triumphant 1-0 in Skopje exactly one year ago.
The visitors were the first to threaten in ten minutes when Filip Despotovski's run down the left found Aco Stojkov, his lay-off into the path of Goran Pandev resulting in a shot that was beaten out by Craig Gordon.
Three minutes later the Scots suffered an injury blow when Callum Davidson limped off to be replaced by Steven Whittaker.
Brown almost opened the scoring in fifteen minutes when his twenty-yard shot following a McFadden free-kick was wide of the target.
The midfielder came even closer in 23 minutes when his turn and shot from a Darren Fletcher free-kick hit the side-net.
The game deteriorated as the half progressed - but Pandev threatened in 42 minutes when he cut in from the left before testing Gordon with a 22-yard shot that the goalkeeper turned wide.
The game boiled over on the cusp of the interval when the Macedonians took exception to Brown winning a corner off a drop-ball when play had been stopped to allow treatment for one of the Slavs. It was un-sporting and against the spirit of the game - and in the melee that followed both McFadden and Despotovski were yellow-carded, a booking that means the Scot will miss the Dutch game through suspension.
McFadden had a great chance to put that blow behind him four minutes after the restart when in the clear from an Alan Hutton cross only to slice his effort high and wide.
That miss almost proved costly - for within sixty seconds Pandev was clean through on goal only to be blocked by the out-rushing Gordon.
It was end-to-end action now - in the very next instant Kenny Miller was released by a Steven Fletcher pass only for his shot to be parried by visiting goalkeeper Jane Nikoloski.
The pace of the game had now picked up to such an extent that a breakthrough was surely inevitable - and so it proved in 55 minutes when Brown's glancing header from a Steven Fletcher cross found the net.
Suddenly Hampden was alive - but the scores should have been levelled eight minutes later when Ilcho Naumoski broke free before finding Pandev on the left - his cutback presenting Slavcho Georgievski with a golden opportunity only for the chance to be skied over the bar.
Shaun Maloney replaced Steven Fletcher in 67 minutes - and two minutes later the substitute found Whittaker with a reverse pass, the Ranger cutting inside before shaving the post with a low shot.
Scotland needed a second goal to ensure victory - and a trademark surging Hutton run in 73 minutes provided McFadden with an opening that the striker, from the edge of the box, placed wide of the target.
Five minutes later Miller was through on a Darren Fletcher ball only to shoot just wide.
The second goal - when it arrived on eighty minutes - was a superb individual goal from McFadden who broke from the halfway line, embarking on a solo run before rounding the goalkeeper and stroking the ball home.
Three minutes later it should have been three when a Whittaker - Miller move down the left freed Maloney through on goal only for the ball to be sliced wide.
The points were secure however - and afterwards a relieved George Burley commented:
"This was one of the biggest games my players will ever be involved in. We always believed we could win. Macedonia are a good side. We had an excellent second-half."
Looking ahead to the visit of Holland on Wednesday, Burley commented:
"The atmosphere was tremendous, and we want the same again on Wednesday. We have a belief on we can win."
Perhaps unsurprisingly Macedonian Coach Mirsad Jonuz saw things differently:
"Scotland have no chance against Holland based on their first-half performance. It's very hard to be lucky twice..."
SCOTLAND Gordon (Sunderland); Hutton (Tottenham Hotspur), Davidson (Preston North End) [Whittaker (Rangers) 13]; McManus (Celtic), Weir (Rangers), Brown (Celtic) [Hartley (Bristol City) 72]; D. Fletcher (Manchester United), Alexander (Burnley), Miller (Rangers), S. Fletcher (Burnley) [Maloney (Celtic) 67], McFadden (Birmingham City)
UNUSED SUBS Marshall (Cardiff City), O'Connor (Birmingham City), Naismith (Rangers), Barr (Falkirk)
MACEDONIA Nikoloski (Paphos); Noveski (Mainz), Sedloski (Mattersburg), Mitreski (Energie Cottbus), Popov (Herenveen); Stojkov (Aarau) [Ibraimi (Renova) 78] , Shumulikoski (Preston North End), Despotovski (Vorskla Poltava), Georgievski (Ulsan Hyundai) [Grozdanoski (Vojvodina) 68], Naumoski (Mattersburg) [Tasevski (Levski Sofia) 64]; Pandev (Lazio)
UNUSED SUBS Pacovski (Germinal Beerschot), Petrov (Slavia Sofia), Grncarov (Apoel Nicosia), Vasoski (Eintracht Frankfurt)
REFEREE Wolfgang Stark (Germany)