It's impossible to report with any accuracy how many of the 1,500 Scotland supporters who travelled to Haifa last month booed their team off the pitch, but it certainly wasn't a minority.

Their five hour flight was met with a performance of such insipid inadequacy that most of them trudged back home writing off our Nations League hopes and bemoaning the appointment of manager Alex McLeish.

But most aspects of football - players, coaches and fans - are fickle.

Less than six weeks after that debacle on the eastern tip of the Med, Scotland are now just two games away from their first major championship in 22 years - the reward for a breathless defeat of Israel at Hampden.

McLeish deserves an enormous amount of credit. He refused to dwell on the exhaustive list of withdrawals ahead of this week's double-header against Albania and Israel.

By embracing those to whom he would provide an international stage, he was rewarded with two vibrant performances which ultimately got Scotland over the line.

Ryan Christie, in particular, displayed the utmost gratitude. The Invernessian's sleight of foot provided assists for three of James Forrest's five goals in Shkoder and Glasgow; his contribution for Scotland has looked impressively effortless.

And then we get to Forrest. On the eve of Saturday's confidence boosting destruction of Albania, the winger's international career read as largely uninspiring, despite consistently impressing for Celtic. 24 caps. 0 goals.

He had become a squad player, not entrusted to fulfil a wide role in a 5-man midfield. But with the abandonment of a 3-5-2 formation, a system that seems to perplex the players and rails against the Scottish footballing DNA of 4-4-2, Forrest can prosper.

His ability is beginning to blossom for his country - 5 goals in 2 games was the perfect denouement.

McLeish will have the rare pleasure of a selection headache when he names his squad for the first European Championship qualifier in March.

Those who impressed most - David Bates, Callum McGregor, Steven Fletcher, Christie and Forrest - have now earned the right to play. But the players on the treatment table should not be discounted.

John Souttar, John McGinn and Kieran Tierney can all play a huge part in the forthcoming campaign, and McLeish doesn't have the depth of quality at his disposal to ignore anyone.

The insurance of a guaranteed Euros playoff spot will provide warmth to supporters during the winter months, but when the team re-emerge in the spring they'll be determined to qualify by the more arduous, conventional route.

That will be tricky; for all the cautious excitement Scotland remain a side in transition, but with a squad packed full of energetic, dynamic and fearless young players, and, in McLeish, an experienced pair of hands at the wheel, the Tartan Army will be toasting a Happy New Year.