Steve Clarke has hailed Hibernian defender Paul Hanlon after his international debut as he warned fellow Easter Road stars Paul McGinn and Ryan Porteous to "be ready" for a repeat call up ahead of next month's winner-take-all clash with Serbia.
The Scotland boss admitted he was impressed as the 30-year-old stepped into the breach to edge the Tartan Army over the line in a tense 1-0 win over the Czech Republic at Hampden on Wednesday evening.
The Hibs stalwart, who received his last call up three years ago without making an appearance, was thrown in at left wing back as a replacement for Greg Taylor in the final 11 minutes as the national side made it eight games unbeaten ahead of November's Euro 2020 play-off final.
Easter Road teammates McGinn and Porteous were consigned to the bench as Ryan Fraser's goal proved enough to see off the Czechs, but Clarke warned his charges not to get complacent with the current coronavirus situation likely to mean he will need to use the full depth of his squad for a shot at immortality in Belgrade.
He said: "You look at the performances of the boys who have come in and joined us - I've got to mention Andy Considine again, his second cap he was really good as part of a back-three with Declan Gallagher in the middle and Scott McTominay on the right.
"It was nice for Paul Hanlon to come in and get a first cap at 31 and I said to them in the dressing room that everyone has to be ready.
"When you go back to your club tell your mates that they all have to be ready because you never know.
"At this time with injuries and call-offs, the virus could hit you at any time so I've told them all to be ready."
Fraser's sixth-minute striker from a Lyndon Dykes through ball made it back-to-back wins in the Nations League following the victory over Slovakia on Sunday by the same margin.
It leaves the national side in pole position in Group B2, with one more win against either the Slovaks or Israel ensuring Scotland will be promoted to the top tier - where potential meetings with England, France and Spain await.
However, attention now turns to the Red Star Stadium on November 12, where a win over Serbia will take Scotland to their first major international tournament since 1998.
The uncertainty over the impact of COVID-19 on preparations for that fixture remains, but while Clarke has put half of the country's eligible players on standby, he praised the current group for their resilience in the win over the Czechs.
"Obviously it was a little bit backs to the wall second half when they penned us in but I thought first half we gave a really good account of ourselves," he said.
"We showed a danger on the break, got the goal and defended it really well.
"We're trying to move forward and keep the momentum that we've built over the last few games.
"Tonight's just another example of that when we had to dig in toward the end."
Clarke added: "Everybody coming onto the pitch, the substitutes coming on made a big difference and a big squad effort over the 10 days we've been in the camp."
