Darren Fletcher knows Scotland have no alternative but to beat Iceland on Wednesday if they are to have any chance of qualifying for the World Cup finals.
The Manchester United midfielder reported a mood of despair in the squad after the 1-0 Group 9 defeat by Macedonia – but feels they will bounce back to win in Reykjavik.
Fletcher believes the Scots showed enough after a poor first half to suggest they are capable of winning.
He said: “Macedonia were camped in for the whole second half.
“We played some good football. We got crosses in but the three big centre halves liked dealing with it.
“We could not find a cutting edge to get the goal. It means it is a must-win game now in Iceland.
“We cannot afford to start the group with one point or no points – we have to win in Iceland.
“It is a difficult group as there are not as many games as usual, but I think teams will drop points in Macedonia and that is the only thing we can hope for really. We have no control over it.”
Scotland toiled in the heat of Skopje and Fletcher knows a quick recovery will be important before they fly north.
He said: “There won’t be much training before the Iceland game. We will have to get the fluids back in and have plenty of rest to recover.
“It is a massive game now. We have to go there and get a result and win.
“We have enough experience to recover. We are disappointed, but we have to pick ourselves up.
“We can’t go to Iceland feeling sorry for ourselves.
“We’ve got to use our disappointment and fuel it in the right way to get a win.”
Fletcher believes manager George Burley was right to play James McFadden and Kenny Miller in the attack.
He added: “We were the team in the ascendancy. I know we lost the early goal and it maybe gave them something to hold on to.
“But, especially in the second half, we took the game to them.
“Without two up front it might not have been the same. Different managers have different styles.
“We need to progress as a nation. We did not qualify the last time and, maybe if we want to qualify, we maybe need to be a bit more adventurous.
“It is hard and I am sure different games will call for different tactics and there might be times when we do go one up front.
“But on Saturday we went with two and, although the result was not there, the performance was decent – especially in the second half.”