But when Craig Levein needed a hero of his own, no-one stepped forward. How everyone at Hamdpen wanted to see someone grab the mantle and give them a winner against Macedonia.
In the end, the man who came closest to being awarded a medal for service above and beyond was goalkeeper Allan McGregor.
The 1-1 draw – greeted by loud boos at full-time – meant we were more slam dunked than Grand Slamming, and now Scotland face the horr-ible prospect of being out of the qualification race for Brazil 2014 by the middle of next month.
The premise was to start the campaign with two home wins on which to build a platform from which to launch a challenge in Group A.
Now, with only two points in the bag, and the daunting task of playing in Wales and Belgium next, the pressure is on – big style.
Levein will argue that there remain eight games to go.
But Scotland have now played 40% of their home matches, with Croatia and Belgium – who drew 1-1 last night as Serbia hammered Wales 6-1 – still to visit the National Stadium along with the Welsh, and face five ties away from Hampden.
Perhaps that will be no bad thing, given how satisfying the expectation of the crowd there appears to weigh heavily on the shoulders of so many in Dark Blue.
Certainly, there was little to cheer about for the 32,425 brave souls who watched this.
Macedonia coped easily with what Scotland managed to throw at them, and, long before the end, looked happy to take a point.
The hysteria which Levein insisted was misplaced after the draw on Saturday is quickly being replaced by panic. With some justification, because another major finals is already slipping from Scotland's reach.
By the time Macedonia scored the opening goal after 10 minutes, they had already made their presence – and threat – well known.
Their pace and movement had found gaps behind the Scots' full-backs, Alan Hutton and Paul Dixon, and the alarm bells were ringing.
It was from one such insurgence behind Dixon that a cross by Daniel Georgivski was hastily headed over for a corner.
Scotland were slow to react as, from the set-piece, the ball was not delivered into the box, but played back, to retain possession.
This sleepiness was replaced by torpor as Ivan Trickovski drilled his cross along the six-yard line. While the Scotland defenders appealed in vain for offside, Nikolce Noveski – who was adjudged to have been behind the ball when it was played to him – stabbed his shot home.
In the move, Macedonia had shown the composure and inventiveness which was sadly lacking in the men wearing dark blue, who appeared still to be trying to come to terms with the 4-2-3-1 system deployed by Levein.
It was designed to give them more of a cutting edge, but it looked blunt in comparison to the visitors' play, which was orchestrated by Goran Pandev.
The sight of the Napoli midfielder pirouetting through challenges was disconcerting, and, from one such run, McGregor had to be at his best to rush out and block a shot from Agim Ibraimi with his right leg.
Had Scotland fallen further behind at that time, it would have left them with a mountain to climb, not just in the game, but in qualification.
Given the importance of a victory, the frustration was understandable, if unhelpful, and the frequent misplacing of passes and failure to retain possession was damaging.
So, it was a huge relief when, two minutes from the much-needed break, Scotland did get their act together to create an equaliser.
James Morrison's pass through the inside-right channel just found Jamie Mackie, who squared the ball to Kenny Miller to slot into the net.
It was the confidence-booster the Scotland side needed, and gave belief where before there had been bewilderment that Levein's men had looked so ordinary against a side who had shown so much more penetration and guile.
The fact Pandev continued to pull the strings effortlessly was maybe one reason for the introduction of Charlie Adam just before the hour, and within a couple of minutes he was booked for a clumsy challenge on the Macedonia captain.
However, Levein's decision to take off scorer Miller to make way for Adam, pushing Mackie up front, did not meet with universal approval from the Tartan Army who chanted for Jordan Rhodes, then quickly replaced this with the call: We want a striker. At least some lessons had been learned from the weekend draw with Serbia, when Rhodes' arrival was too late to impact on the match.
The £8million man was afforded 25 minutes this time to show his worth at inter- national level, the removal of Morrison for him indicating that the cautious Levein was finally prepared to go for it.
There was almost an instant return with Rhodes heading into the side netting from an Adam cross within three minutes, as if to announce his arrival.
With Steven Naismith joining the Blackburn Rovers man for the closing stages, it was all or nothing – and it was nothing.
There was to be no hero, and the long road to Rio now looks to be disappearing into the distance.
