With their fingers clinging on to the cliff face named Hope, for once Scotland held their grip rather than plunging into the deep ravine named Yet Another Heartbreak.
The prospect of making the play-offs for Russia 2018 seemed to have disappeared on a night that ticked all the usual boxes.
There was the tease of playing three-quarters of the match against 10 men. There was a visiting goalkeeper who had the game of his life. And there was a crossbar that was there to assist him on the two occasions he was beaten.
But the typically Scottish script had a wonderfully un-Scottish ending when substitute Chris Martin and Martin Skrtel came together at the near post to contest an Ikechi Anya cross and the ball broke off the Slovakian captain’s foot and into the bottom corner of the net.
With four wins and a draw in their last five matches Scotland are now a Sunday evening win against Slovenia away from next month’s World Cup play-offs.
Gordon Strachan had talked up Barry Bannan in his pre-match press conferences and this didn’t prove to be a red herring, with the Sheffield Wednesday man one of the two midfielders to replace Stuart Armstrong and Scott Brown. Darren Fletcher was other. There was also a place for another man of many campaigns gone by, James Morrison.
There was definitely a conservative feel to the midfield selection, with Strachan resisting calls to throw Scottish Premiership form men, Callum McGregor and John McGinn, into the fray.
It wasn’t a conservative start from the Scots, though. After a few minutes of shadow boxing they began to take control.
On eight minutes Andy Robertson curled a long pass towards the near post but the intended recipient, Leigh Griffiths, couldn’t quite get to it in time.
Then seconds later there was a strong penalty claim. Kieran Tierney tried to go past his man just inside the box and he was sent to the turf by a body-check that would have had many a referee pointing to the spot. Unfortunately, Serbian Milorad Mazic wasn’t one of them.
This encouraging start would have become a perfect one but for an outstanding save from Martin Dubravka to keep out a Christophe Berra header.
By midway through the first half a rattled Slovakian team had been shown three yellow cards and the first of them – Robert Mak’s – had serious consequences. The same man got his second booking for a dive after Craig Gordon had gone to ground at his feet (but pulled away his hands just in time) and yellow became red.
Slovakian caution was to be expected from here on but they still carried a threat and a slick move through the heart of the Scotland defence was only thwarted by Gordon on his own six-yard line with a little bit of help from Tierney.
On 36 minutes Griffiths had the short of chance he craves – on the edge of the box, on his left foot, with time to pick his spot. That spot was the bottom right corner but the shot needed a bit more on it and the impressive Dubravka saved.
Scotland were in need of runners from midfield but none were introduced from the bench for the start of the second half.
Crosses were starting to be delivered from deeper and deeper areas, a prime example being one from Tierney on 51 minutes which didn’t have enough pace on it for Griffiths to get the power needed to trouble Dubravka.
Slovakia were far more comfortable than they should have been with a man less than their opposition and Stanislav Lobotka had time to cut in from the left and get a shot on target.
Then there was an even better chance for Jan Gregus, with Gordon again saving a shot straight at him.
A much-needed change was eventually made, though you could argue whether it was the right one. There had been poorer performers than James Forrest but he was the one to make way for Martin.
It had been a while since Scotland had worked Dubravka but Griffiths did just that from over 20 yards out with a swerving shot that the keeper did well to keep out.
When he was beaten by Martin on 69 minutes – well beaten – the crossbar was his friend as the 25-yard strike hit it flush on the face of it and rebounded to safety.
The required urgency had returned to the home team at last and Martin won a free-kick in Griffiths England territory.
The strike was almost as good as the ones which beat Joe Hart twice but again the Scots were foiled by the bar. To rub salt into the wounds, seconds later Dubravka produced another stunning save to prevent what looked like a certain Morrison goal from close range.
It was now throw the kitchen sink time and Robertson had the chance to be a hero but he shot from a tight angle when he would have been better advised crossing.
When all looked lost Griffiths turned his man on the 89th minute, prodded a pass forward for Anya and he squared a ball into the danger area where Martin’s pressure produced the Skrtel own goal.
Unlike after the late goals against England, the Scots were able to see the game out this time and set up their Sunday evening win or bust clash with Slovenia.
One to go.
Scotland – Gordon, Tierney (Anya 82), Robertson, Berra, Mulgrew, Bannan, Morrison, D Fletcher (McArthur 79), Griffiths, Phillips, Forrest (C Martin 61). Subs not used – Archer, McGregor, McGinn, Snodgrass, S Fletcher, Hanley, Fraser, Cooper.
Slovakia – Dubravka, Pekarik, Skrtel, Durica, Gregus, Nemec (Weiss 79), Hubocan, Hamsik (Duda 79), Kucka (Gyomber 79), Mak, Lobotka. Subs not used – Kozacik, Polacek, Mihalik, Rusnak, Hrosovsky, Mazan, Sabo, Stetina.
Referee – Milorad Mazic (Serbia).
