THE faces in the dugout may have changed three times in just over a year, but on the pitch Scotland appear to have retained that consistent ingredient that has dragged the national team off the floor to a position of respectability.

Again last night there was clear evidence in the 1-1 draw with Croatia that for everything our squad lacks in quality, it is more than matched by commitment and desire.

And this, as he conceded afterwards, fills the new man at the helm, George Burley, with great optimism for what may lie ahead.

In terms of footballing ability, technique and overall skill the Croats were on a different level. Deadly first touches, tremendous movement and vision and, especially in the first half, they passed Scotland off the pitch.

But as was proved many times when Burley was still involved at his previous clubs, there is an inner strength about this current crop of players that just refuses to let them go down without a fight.

That trait can carry teams a long way, and Burley hopes that will be on a journey to South Africa and the World Cup Finals in 2010.

For now, though, he was content with a small step in his first competitive match in charge. It was a night when there was a lot for the manager to be happy with, especially as his pool had been depleted for a test against a side who must be ranked as dark horses at the European Championships this summer.

"The commitment that the team showed under Walter Smith and Alex McLeish was fantastic, and I think we saw that from them again last night. That was very pleasing for me," Burley admitted.

"We have a squad that maybe doesn't have the kind of individual talent as you saw from Croatia. But, in terms of passion and desire, they have that in abundance.

"We went a goal down early on against a very good side. In the opening period they were pulling us from side to side a bit with this passing ability, and that was the full strength Croatia team, the one they will go into Euro 2008 and with.

"But our lads stuck to the task and worked hard to stay in the game. Of course there are areas we need to improve on, and we will work at that.

"However, there is no way you can question the commitment. And that is a big thing for us going forward, the players have the belief that they can compete with the top teams in Europe and that has to serve us well in terms of building up to September when the qualification matches begin."

Burley started with a 4-1-4-1 formation, with Steven Fletcher wide on the left and Shaun Maloney on the right.

Their task was to try and get forward to support Kenny Miller, but the sheer class of Croatia had the Scots pinned back and, given that it was forwards then trying to defend, Slaven Bilic's side were getting down the channels too easily.

That early pressure brought a goal from Nico Kranjcar in the ninth minute, with Scotland again sleeping at a throw-in deep in the right back area. You have to wonder if the players learned anything against Italy in November when that switch-off at a shy cost the team a first- minute goal?

With top-class defenders like Terry Butcher and Steven Pressley on the coaching staff, these kind of basics need to be worked on when the action starts for real.

However, slowly but surely, Scotland found their feet and Miller scored his 11th international goal to make it 1-1, albeit with the aid of a fortunate deflection.

Burley said. "We are looking for a framework that suits the players we have, and we'll go away and work on what we saw. But don't forget we also have some players to come in, and that is a bonus on top of seeing what we did from the 17 we used last night.

"It was important to get a good performance to keep the momentum going, and I felt we got that."

Burley certainly never lacked passion for the cause. He stood out in the rain- sodden technical area for long parts of the game, and punched the air in delight when Miller's equaliser found the top corner of the net.

Clearly, he has inherited a good group. But he has to make his own mark on them, and results like last night will aid that.

"Did I enjoy it? Well, first of all it was a great honour to be out there as manager of my country," he smiled.

"I will work as hard as I can to get us to where we want to be, and I have to say I really enjoyed the three or four days with the players.

"You don't get long with them at international breaks, but I love the character of the squad. Even with the changes we had to make, you could not ask for any more.

"When the goal went in it was a feeling of relief as we were 1-0 down, and I didn't want to lose. I felt we deserved the draw, we went on to create some good chances.

"Now we can look to the Czech Republic game at the end of May and try to develop things further. We need to build the shape of the side but, overall, I was delighted with last night."