Scotland set off for this European Championship qualifier by walking through the spacious lobby in the Holiday Inn in Sarajevo to a polite round of applause from the Tartan Army. It was almost - but not quite - like walking out to bat through the Long Room at Lord's. "Don't let us down," said the man wearing a Glengarry, rather menacingly.

Neither did they. Their victory against Bosnia, a quiet and efficient piece of business, now means it is possible for them to claim second place in Group Nine merely by winning against Estonia in Tallinn on Wednesday night. They may need other results to go in their favour but second place in the section is theirs for the taking.

Scotland won a curious game insofar as Bosnia, its buildings still scarred by the pockmarks of small arms fire, could not rouse themselves inside a packed Olympic Stadium. In a place where the local leagues are still segregated along ethnic lines, the huge crowd simply sat on their hands. Their last pass of the match was a ball played back to their own goalkeeper which tells its own story. They were certainly no Croatia.

Scotland did find some passion, notably in the uncompromising shape of their captain Colin Hendry, who admitted afterwards that his Rangers manager Dick Advocaat had already told him he was no longer the first choice at Ibrox.

For all that they won, Scotland were less than impressive. Hendry admitted to extreme nervousness about the fixture and Craig Brown was honest enough to say that his defence - with David Hopkin at right-back - had been cobbled together and did not work as a unit. In such circumstances, Scotland needed a little bit of luck and received it.

Don Hutchison's opening goal had been cancelled out by Elvir Bolic's equaliser, laid on a plate when Barry Ferguson passed so poorly that the counter-attack against a non-existent defence just had to succeed. Then, seconds before half time, Billy Dodds lashed in a 20 yard shot with his left foot that might even have surprised his nearest and dearest. "It was a wonderful goal, fit to win any match," said Brown. "Estonia will be different on Wednesday but they won't play with three up like Bosnia, which caused us all sorts of problems. They will be fit and well organised but they don't have too much experience of playing at this level." But even Brown had to concede that a second half performance when the team was hanging on and hitting high balls out of defence hardly represented the kind of football that will be needed in the play-offs, where England, France, Spain and Germany may lurk.

Bosnia-Herzegovina: Dedic, Joldic (Repuh 78), Mujdza (Demirovic 78), Konjic, Hibic, Besirevic, Bolic, Halilovic (Mujcin 62), Kodro, Barbarez, Topic. Subs Not Used: Becirevic, Ihtijarevic, Skoro, Memic. Booked: Halilovic, Mujcin. Goals: Bolic 23.

Scotland: Sullivan, Hendry, Calderwood (Dailly 46), Weir, Hopkin, Ferguson (Durrant 70), Burley, Collins, McCann (Gallacher 75), Hutchison, Dodds. Subs Not Used: Gould, Ritchie, Gemmill, Johnston. Booked: Hutchison, Sullivan. Goals: Hutchison 13, Dodds 45.

Referee: N Levnikov (Russia).