Significance of impressive debut not lost on "proud" Stuart Armstrong
Stuart Armstrong admits his Scotland debut was a proud moment for him and his family, after playing a key role in a crucial victory.
Stuart Armstrong admits his Scotland debut was a proud moment for him and his family, after playing a key role in a crucial victory.
The Celtic midfielder set up Chris Martin's late winner against Slovenia at Hampden with a positive and skilful piece of play and collected the man-of-the-match award.
Manager Gordon Strachan declared it the best Scotland debut he could remember and Armstrong was delighted to have arrived in style.
Clutching his cap, the former Dundee United player said: "It's a proud moment to hold this. It's a proud moment for my family, who were here to watch as well. To cap that off with three points is great.''
Asked about his late intervention to set up Martin, he said: "It feels good but what feels better is to have contributed in a positive way to three points, which we needed to put us in a very good position in the group.
"It was back and forth at that stage, both teams looking for that breakaway.
"Kech (Ikechi Anya) has made a really good run on the outside just to drag that defender and Chris has held a really good position in the box and has done brilliantly to turn and finish.''
The win revived Scotland's World Cup qualifying hopes, putting them two points off Slovakia in second place in Group F and moving them to within a point of previously-unbeaten Slovenia, who had kept three consecutive clean sheets.
Scotland next host England on June 10 and will approach that game with fresh hope after creating a host of chances, mostly in the first half, when Leigh Griffiths twice hit the woodwork.
Asked how he views the group, Armstrong said: "Optimistically, we are in a good position. We have done really well to bolster our chances and we'll be ready positive going into the next game.
"I think everyone knew it was a must-win and we delivered. From the start, we were creating a lot of chances, dominated the game and got what we deserved.''
The late goal probably kept manager Gordon Strachan in a job, something which the players were doubtless aware.
With the pressure of keeping their qualification hopes alive and the threat to their manager's future, it was not an easy international camp, but Armstrong felt they had approached the game in the right manner.
Armstrong, who turns 25 this week, said: "We had trained well all week, there was a good atmosphere, and it's important sometimes to stay positive when things aren't going the way you want them to. And I think we responded really well.''
The central midfielder can now surely look forward to many more caps after a late start to his full international career, but he was typically unassuming.
The part-time law student said: "I don't like to speculate too much but I'll keep plugging away at Celtic and see what happens.''