Group B/ Lithuania 1 Scotland 2: Scotland's relative revival is unlikely to prompt widespread fear among the powers of world football, but Walter Smith and his players have genuine cause to celebrate this morning after winning their first two qualification games for Euro 2008.
This victory, which followed the rout of Faroe Islands on Saturday, means the Scots are pacesetters in Group B, second-half goals from Christian Dailly and Kenny Miller enough to ensure that Smith has already overseen an upturn - widely thought unlikely - from the dark days of the Berti Vogts era.
"We've got a spirit and belief now," said Smith, whose team have avoided defeat in their past seven away matches. "I'm hoping that we are beginning to be respected for what we are doing. This win was achieved thanks to a lot of hard work."
Scotland aired strong reservations over the state of the Kaunas pitch and Uefa's delegate, the Englishman Alan Hutchings, had warned the Lithuanian FA to improve the conditions.
Smith later described the surface as "100 times better than 24 hours earlier", but the lack of grass in each goalmouth meant a treacherous 90 minutes for the goalkeepers.
The soulless arena will never be pretty, but it is just the sort of place where Scotland must win if their recovery is to continue.
But there was a troublesome opening for Scotland, with Gary Naysmith forced to clear a Tomas Zvirgzdauskas shot off the line within two minutes. Scotland lost McFadden with a hamstring pull midway through the first half and Graham Alexander was introduced, but by then Scotland were often troubling Lithuania.
Miller's booking for dangerous play ensures he will be absent from the team who take on France at Hampden next month, but the Celtic striker always appeared the most likely to break the deadlock last night.
And indeed it was his bursting run and shot a minute after the interval which brought about the corner from which Naysmith crossed for the onrushing Dailly.
The West Ham defender's powerful header from eight yards was his sixth goal in 63 international appearances and led to scenes of euphoria among the 4,000 travelling supporters.
Robertas Poskus soon blazed over the bar from close range as Lithuania mounted an onslaught on Craig Gordon's goal, and such wastefulness came back to haunt them when Miller blasted a half-volley into the net, again from a Naysmith pass, to give Scotland valuable breathing space.
Lithuania's reply came in spectacular fashion from the substitute Darius Miceika, whose overhead kick with five minutes remaining ensured a nervous finish for the Scots.
Further, frantic waves of home attacks followed, but Scotland held firm, proof if needed that basic resilience continues to play a key part in Smith's revival of the team.
Guardian Service
LITHUANIA: Karcemarskas, Stankevicius, Dziaukstas, Skerla, Zvirgzdauskas, Savenas, Kalonas, Mikoliunas, Preiksaitis, Poskus, Danilevicius. Subs: Malinauskas, Paulauskas, Labukas, Zelmikas, Miceika, Tamosauskas, Kavaliauskas.
SCOTLAND: Gordon, Dailly, Weir, Caldwell, Naysmith, Pressley, Fletcher, Quashie, McFadden, Hartley, Miller. Subs: Neil Alexander, Graham Alexander, Anderson, Neilson, Boyd, Severin, Teale.
Referee: V Hrinak (Slovakia).
