Thursday was emotional... crucial... incredible... but now attentions turn to Sunday.

Scotland head to Slovenia knowing a win will guarantee them second spot in the Group F 2018 World Cup qualifying table.

But not every runner-up makes it to the play-offs - eight of the nine do. As a result, Scotland have to avoid being the worst second-placed team.

To work this out the results against the bottom-placed side are removed from the final table. In other words, Scotland lose all points and goals from games against Malta.

There are already two teams who will finish better off than Scotland in the runners-up table - Portugal and whoever finishes second out of Spain and Italy.

That leaves at least six groups worth watching to see who Scotland can pip.

To save yourself the headache we have done the maths for you so keep an eye on what the following teams do over the weekend.

Remaining fixtures (October 5/8)

Remaining fixtures (October 5/8)

Northern Ireland had already secured second spot in Group C but last night's defeat to the world champions meant they could no longer clinch automatic qualification.

Their result could be good news for Scotland.

Remaining fixtures (October 5/8)

Thursday's night 3-1 win for Romania was not enough to keep them in the mix so while they were eliminated, their opponents Kazakhstan also cemented bottom spot.

Poland and Denmark are fighting it out for automatic qualification but if that doesn't go to plan for the Danes they are then fighting it out with Montenegro for second place.

Remaining fixtures (October 6/9)

Remaining fixtures (October 7/10)

Three teams can still win Group I and therefore all three sides can still finish second. This is definitely one for Scotland fans to keep an eye on.

Remaining fixtures (October 7/12)

This is one of the hardest groups to dissect because four teams can still win the group, four can ultimately finish second and two are still battling it out for bottom spot. Rather than break down every single permutation (there are a lot) it is easier to say this:

Remaining fixtures (October 7/10)

This is where Scotland fans should be looking because if anyone is going to finish below the Dark Blues in the runners-up table they are most likely going to be the team from Group H.

Bosnia, Greece and Cyprus are all fighting for second spot, but luckily for Scotland, table toppers Belgium, who have yet to lose a game, have still to play two of them.

Ideally, and most realistically, if Belgium beat Bosnia and Greece win their remaining two games against Cyprus and Gibraltar, it is entirely in Scotland's hands.

Well, not really.

Scotland can still finish second in group F if they draw with Slovenia but it would require Malta taking points off Slovakia in Trnava.

If Scotland do manage to secure second spot with just 18 points then they would make the play-offs if a team from another group finishes second on 17 points.

This can still happen in Group A, B, H and but also depends on who finishes bottom of their respective groups as those points would be deducted.

In other words, if they beat their respective group minnows they would lose more points.

Another way of putting it is, for example, if Luxembourg finish bottom Scotland do not want France to finish second as they would only drop four points instead of six.

These permutations are set to change over the weekend so keep your eyes peeled and your calculators handy.