Group B:An overwhelming reception committee greeted James McFadden when he strolled through arrivals at Glasgow airport yesterday morning.

Brandishing first editions of newspapers dedicated to his stunning winning goal against France, the Scottish media besieged their conquering hero while the unfortunate members of the Tartan Army not present at Parc des Princes circled in pursuit of an autograph.

In inflicting defeat on Raymond Domenech's team for the second time in 11 months on Wednesday and becoming the first visiting national side to triumph on French soil since Russia in 1996, Scotland confirmed their remarkable transformation over the past three years but produced a standard of performance that must be maintained over the final three matches of their qualifying campaign.

Ukraine, Georgia and Italy still await Scotland and McLeish's side require seven more points to guarantee qualification without outside assistance. It is also a valid argument that last summer's World Cup finalists remain the favourites to advance, given the fixtures still to be played.

France have the Faroe Islands and Lithuania to play and should have six more points before their one problematic trip, to Ukraine, in November.

Likewise Italy will be confident of recording victories at home to Georgia and the Faroes either side of their only remaining away game, at Hampden Park on November 17th.

Scotland at the start of this campaign would gladly have taken the chance of a final home game against the world champions for the prize of a first appearance in a major tournament since the 1998 World Cup.

But first they have to take at least four points from the October double header of Ukraine and Georgia and the problems they encountered against both earlier in this campaign illustrate why a repeat of the Parisian performance will be required.

• Guardian Service