Scotland striker Chris Martin has vowed to embrace the challenge of meeting the expectations of a Hampden crowd who will demand victory over Lithuania on Saturday.
The home fans will accept nothing less than three points against a team who have lost on all four previous visits to Glasgow, especially after Scotland opened their World Cup qualifying campaign with a 5-1 win in Malta.
Meeting those wishes will be far from easy given Lithuania’s recent improvement: the Baltic nation came within seconds of beating Slovenia in their Group F opener.
But Martin said: “I think we can thrive on it and see it as an opportunity. I don’t think we have to worry about the pressure. We have to see the opportunity and go out there and prove to people that we are the favourites for this game.
“The public perhaps think Lithuania aren’t going to be too good and we know different – they are going to be an extremely tough team. But I think after such a convincing result away from home, a full crowd will be very expectant of a win on Saturday.”
Martin feels Scotland’s hunger to achieve a first appearance at a major finals for 20 years can drive them forward.
“We just want to qualify, whether there’s a point to prove or not,” said the Fulham striker, who netted in Malta.
“Everyone is hungry for it. It was a very disappointing end to the last campaign and everyone is still hurting from that and we have got the hunger to prove to people that we deserve to be at a major tournament.
“You have seen that with the start we have had and hopefully we can continue that.”
