Scotland washed away the Ukraine pain in the Hampden rain to get their Nations League campaign off to a winning start against Armenia.
Steve Clarke’s men showed no signs of a hangover from the defeat in their World Cup play-off semi-final as they got back on the victory trail.
Defensive duo Anthony Ralston and Scott McKenna were the goal heroes with first half goals to seal a comfortable win that was more dominant than the scoreline suggests.
Scotland now head across the Irish Sea looking to make it two wins from two in League B Group 1 against the Republic of Ireland in Dublin on Saturday before the return against Armenia.
Clarke made six changes from the side that started the Ukraine defeat with only Craig Gordon, skipper Andy Robertson, John McGinn, Callum McGregor and Che Adams keeping their places.
Scotland moved on from their World Cup misery with a rapid start and Stuart Armstrong and Robertson both went close inside the first 10 minutes with Ralston doing well down the right.
McGinn then a had a long range rocket shot which sailed over the crossbar as they kept the pressure on.
All that was missing was a goal but it arrived just before the half hour mark as their dominance paid off.
Stuart Armstrong hung an excellent cross at the back post for Ralston who sent a brilliant header across goal and into the net.
The lead was doubled and again it was a header from a defender as McKenna towered above the Armenia defence to bullet home from McGinn’s corner.
McKenna thought he had a second on the stroke of half-time but the Nottingham Forest man’s goal was rightly ruled out for offside after a VAR check.
With one eye on Dublin on Saturday, Clarke made a triple change as Robertson, Ralston and Armstrong went off and Nathan Patterson made his comeback from injury with Aaron Hickey and Scott McTominay introduced, with Ross Stewart handed a debut in the dying minutes.
Scotland kept the pressure on and McGinn crashed an effort off the crossbar as conditions deteriorated but the Tartan Army were singing in the rain.
Here’s three talking points from a rain-lashed Hampden Park
Happy anniversary
Steve Clarke celebrated his third anniversary as Scotland boss with a win to get the Nations League campaign off to the perfect start.
And despite the disappointment of last week’s defeat to Ukraine, his overall time in charge has been a huge success.
The 58-year-old’s time started with one win in four but it’s now just one defeat in 10 and with 18 wins from 35 games in charge it’s not a bad record at all.
Clarke has brought stability and respectability to Scotland and nobody can argue with the progress made.
Defenders show the way to goal
Anthony Ralston marked his first start by finding the net while fellow stopper Scott McKenna did the same on his milestone 25th appearance.
Neither player started the game against Ukraine and both could maybe have counted themselves unlucky.
Aaron Hickey came in for criticism for his competitive debut display at right back and Ralston certainly impressed here, even aside from his goal.
It was only his second appearance for his country and the Celtic man kicked on after an impressive club season.
Awful Armenia
How did the Republic of Ireland manage to lose to the Hampden visitors?
Or maybe it's too early to say with Scotland's return visit to Yerevan next week.
They might prove to be a different proposition on their own turf, particularly in the heat.
Conditions wouldn't have been what they are used to but they still offered next to nothing.
And Arman Hovhannisyan launching a bottle at the linesman at Scott McKenna's disallowed goal summed up a miserable night for them.
