Talk of Scottish club football being in crisis has flickered again after every SPL team was dumped out of Europe by the end of August - though Celtic may yet sneak back in through the back door - however the national side are gradually becoming a source of pride.
An impressive showing against Spain in October, in which they suffered a narrow 3-2 defeat having fought back from 2-0 down, proved a turning point for Craig Levein's men, who have won four of their six matches since, only losing to Brazil and an in-form Republic of Ireland.
Bizarrely, Scotland haven't played a Euro 2012 qualifier in the 11 months since that loss to Spain, but despite a shaky start, they remain in contention for a play-off spot. Victory against current occupants Czech Republic at Hampden Park on Saturday and Lithuania on Tuesday will send them up to second.
They are slight favourites to successfully negotiate the first leg of that double header at 2.6813/8 and are catching Czech Republic at a good time, with the 1996 runners-up and 2004 semi-finalists on a worrying run of three games without a goal, yet to identify a successor to the prolific Jan Koller.
Scotland got the better of them 1-0 in Levein's first fixture as boss last March, before being beaten by the same margin in Prague in October in a match memorable for the visitors' ill-judged negative approach. A repeat of that outlook is unthinkable with the hosts needing to win and sniffing blood.
Home advantage has proven decisive in meetings between these two nations, with 11 of the last dozen ending in defeat for the away side, and it wouldn't be a shock if that trend is maintained with another 1-0 scoreline at 7.613/2.
Scotland aren't much stronger than their opponents in front of goal, striking just 11 times in their last 14 competitive outings, so it is no surprise that under 2.5 goals is significantly favoured at 1.68/13.
Best Bet: Scotland to win @ 2.6813/8