Scotland finally ended their World Cup qualifier Hampden heartache with a rousing victory over Croatia.
Robert Snodgrass who scored the winner for the Scots the last time the sides met in Zagreb in June opened the scoring in the first half.
The victory was sealed in the second period when Steven Naismith, celebrating his 25th cap, was on hand to rifle home the rebound from a saved Barry Bannan penalty.
The win finally gave the long-suffering Tartan Army something to cheer about at the National Stadium in what has largely been a desperately-disappointing campaign and lifted Scotland into fourth place in Group A above Wales.
However, it was a hammer blow for Croatia with coach Igor Stimac sensationally offering to resign in the wake of the defeat, and he now awaits a decision by his country’s football association.
Strachan said: “It was a nice way to finish the week which has been enjoyable but hard work. I was just counting it as another competitive game.
“But when you put that hard work in it is nice to get a performance and a win. The players have gradually turned things around and they can be really proud of themselves.
“Robert did well playing in an unusual role. He scored a wonderful goal and hit the post. He did a lot of good things but his mate up front Naismith was terrific.
“Everything about him. He has a big heart and he makes other players in the team play better. He wins headers, he takes fouls and he works incredibly hard so it was good to see him scoring a goal.”
When asked how important it was to get that first home win, Strachan replied: “It has no importance whatsoever but it makes you happy for a month.
“The confidence is growing though. You can’t just go to that stage. You need to dig out things, results, performances, take a few knocks physically and mentally.
“It gets better and it grows within the crowd and the players feel that as well. If the whole stadium becomes more confident about the way we go about our job it makes everybody feel better.
“When you are the Scotland manager, you want to make the nation happy and hopefully we have done that tonight.”
It was a special night for Naismith, who as well as scoring won his silver cap on his 25th appearance.
He said: “To score a goal on the night of my 25th game is pretty special. I thought the wee man (Bannan) was going to slot it away but it was an easy one for me. It thought it was a great team performance.”