BEFORE a single shot had been fired in his reign as Scotland manager, Gordon Strachan admitted he had just one wish.

To enjoy a tad more good fortune than his much-derided predecessor, Craig Levein, is the wee-man-with-the-big-task's underlying ambition.

Without the occasional nod from Lady Luck – something Levein is acknowledged not to have enjoyed – the best laid plans, the most effective system, and the best organised team is going to find delivering results beyond them.

However, if you want to win the lottery, you have got to buy a ticket.

In football parlance, that means having a go. And, on first showing, which yielded a hard-earned 1-0 victory over Estonia, Strachan's team will.

The manager refuses to give up on qualification for the 2014 World Cup, though, with only two points from the opening four games, he knows a major reversal of form and fortune has to happen, starting with the double-header against Wales and Serbia next month.

The Tartan Army, so badly served by those doing national service in the past couple of years, are willing the new man to succeed; 16,202 turned up at Pittodrie to welcome him into the role.

Strachan – who looked composed and deep in thought at the edge of the technical area – senses the support and good wishes, but is also conscious of the expectation which always arrives with a new man calling the shots.

So it was with no little trepidation he got the ball rolling in the north-east last night. It was his only chance to meet his players, invite them to examine his plans for the future, and get some kind of morale boost with which to sustain them between now and reconvening for the game against Wales on March 22.

As a player who built his reputation in the colours of Aberdeen before winning a big move south, Strachan had been involved in many, many important games at Pittodrie.

On this occasion, there was no European Super Cup, nor Cup-Winners' Cup final place, nor even a league championship on the line.

In fact, there was nothing tangible on offer, but he had never wanted a win more as the bid to build positive momentum got going. And the men he selected did not disappoint.

The difficult surface, the wet and chilly conditions, the clutch of call-offs, and the paucity of preparation time were all dismissed as irrelevancies.

The quest to find the system and formation to maximise the talent available saw Steven Fletcher deployed as a lone striker, with three mini-marauders – Shaun Maloney, Steven Naismith and Chris Burke – sitting just behind, charged with linking with the Sunderland star whenever possible.

Charlie Adam and captain Scott Brown offered the security in midfield to allow those ahead to concentrate on forward motion.

And with Alan Hutton and Charlie Mulgrew prepared to overlap and deliver crosses from wide, memories of the infamous 4-6-0 formation used by Levein in Prague early in his tenure promise to be banished forever.

Despite the Blackburn striker hitting both goals in the game against Luxembourg when Billy Stark was in interim charge back in November, in-form Jordan Rhodes had to wait until half-time to come off the bench, replacing Maloney in a pre-planned switch to 4-4-2.

But Strachan had insisted beforehand no one would be written out or written in just on the basis of this one game, and he took the opportunity to see as many of them in action as substitute rules would allow.

When Mulgrew slammed home a free-kick from Adam six minutes before the break – the first Scotland goal for the defender once sold by Strachan when Celtic manager – the game plan, to peg back Estonia, was rewarded.

By then, Fletcher, Maloney and Hutton had all had chances to get the goal the game needed and the fans craved.

However, Allan McGregor had also been required to pull off two good saves, a tip over from Taijo Teniste and a quick block from Tarmo Kink when one-on-one.

The patched-up backline did look vulnerable throughout, so it was clear that a decision had been made that the best form of defence was to attack.

Wales – Gareth Bale et al – will ask many more questions than Estonia could muster, and Strachan, along with assistants Mark McGhee and Stuart McCall, will give the defensive selection a lot of thought between now and the meeting of the Celtic cousins at Hampden.

The anticipated raft of changes in the second half saw Robert Snodgrass, James McArthur, James Morrison, Kenny Miller and Kris Commons join the ever-dangerous Rhodes in coming off the bench to stake their claim for consideration for the upcoming competitive games.

All these changes did take some of the cohesion from the performance and sting out of the game, though Mulgrew did force Sergal Pareiko to tip over a rasping shot midway through the half.

It was not a wide margin of victory, but it was a victory.

The new era has got off to a winning start, and Scotland have enjoyed the all-too-rare experience of back-to-back wins, albeit against countries which are less-than-giants of world football.

Small steps, but every long journey has to begin this way. Pride so dented in the Autumn is beginning to be restored, though Strachan, and his players, know the real tests on our reversal of fortune await next month.