Scotland boss Gordon Strachan dared to believe his side were about to produce a famous victory against world champions Germany in their opening Euro 2016 qualifier, only for a late Thomas Muller goal to condemn his side to a 2-1 defeat.
The Scots appeared to have rattled the Germans in Dortmund after an Ikechi Anya goal drew them level following a first half opening goal from Muller, only for a late clincher from the same reliable marksman to deny Strachan what would have been a fine result in German soil.
"I thought we were going to get a point, I actually thought we were going to win it at one stage," he told Sky Sports. "I believe at that point our passing was good to get that final pass in. We had the pace to counter attack.
"We've got no points, but we have a performance and the next game [against Georgia in October] is a big game, so we're looking forward to that challenge and we'll take it on when it comes around."
Strachan refused to criticise his team for giving Muller the space to snatch his winning goal, as he instead praised the Bayern Munich forward.
"When you are dealing with an exceptional machine like Muller then you will have a problem," conceded Strachan. "If you can find me a player at six-foot-four and who can jump about eight feet, which Muller can, the goals are avoidable. But we don't have anybody to do that and neither do most countries in the world.
- Uersfeld: Three Points -- Scotland vs. Germany
- ESPN FC TV: Scotland still have a shot
"We should be proud of what we did after we sorted out the first 20 minutes."
In his post match media conference, Strachan was pushed to comment on the performance of Sven Oddvar Moen after some controversial decisions in Dortmund.
"We try our best not to speak about referees, but I would love to see the assessment of the referee's performance, that's all I want to say about that," added Strachan. Unfortunately we don't get to see them."
