THE nation has been bamboozled by numbers over the past few days.

Four, five, six, 23 ... there seems no bounds to the expectations of some Tartan Army footsoldiers as to how many Scotland will bang in this Sunday against Gibraltar.

After all, the opposition's track record does not make for impressive reading. In their four Euro 2016 qualifiers played so far, the group whipping boys have lost every one without hitting the net, while their current goals against tally sits at an eye-watering 21.

As they come to Hampden this weekend, there is a clamour for goals and an unquenchable thirst for a hammering of the country with the population the size of Wishaw.

But as Scotland's players attempt to temper the hopes of the support while dealing with their own ambitions of a goal-fest, for Scotland star Ikechi Anya, the only figure he is keeping his eye on against Gibraltar is three points.

The Watford man understands there is an expectation for a comprehensive Scotland win, but the wide man has told SportTimes that a 1-0 victory is all his heart desires.

He said: "I would take a 1-0 win if you offered it to me now. Three points is all that is on my mind. It's about the three points. Whether we win by one or by three or four, you get three points at the end of the day.

"Obviously, Gibraltar have leaked a few goals, but you would imagine they will be trying to rectify that. I think they will try to stay quite compact. It will be a difficult game and, until we get that first goal, I think that will be the key."

For all the excitement surrounding the national team at the moment, the chilled-out image of Anya bouncing his way out of Hampden with an oversized set of headphones round his neck and a smile on his face typifies the mood of the Scotland camp.

Based at Mar hall in Bishopton, the players have the opportunity to unwind amid luxurious surroundings and spend time with each other away from bibs, cones, training drills and soggy pitches.

That attitude of making the most of all the time available to build a bond rather than just in training has been the key to much of the success under Gordon Strachan.

Anya is an advocate of this approach and he has revealed that games of Fifa and nights of table tennis championships are all contributory factors to serving up success on the park for Scotland.

"We bond more," said the 27-year-old winger. "It's all down to the gaffer. You get what you see with him and he's been brilliant with us.

"On the football pitch he's so serious, but away from that he likes to joke and laugh, which puts you in a relaxed state. It's not the end of the world if you misplace a pass.

"It's quite laid-back. A couple of the lads have brought their PS4s with them and we have a games room as well to help us chill out.

"People get table tennis tournaments on the go, we play cards and just generally chill and chat. It's good because we are not all confined to our rooms.

"The table tennis champion is probably Johnny Russell, he's decent. I'm so bad, so I'm generally scared to play!"

And he is adamant this approach is a winner. He added: "You can see it in our performances because we are one on the pitch," he added. "We are not different players from different clubs. We are all together and we all want to qualify for France, which is our main goal."

Of course, there is already a French connection which has many Scotland fans believing this could finally be the year to bring to an end the long wait for participation at a major tournament.

Seventeen years have gone by since the national side last featured at such an event - the World Cup in France back in 1998.

It is an omen not lost on Anya, who can recall Scotland opening up that World Cup with a narrow 2-1 defeat against the mighty Brazil.

"That's how football works sometimes, I can remember watching the games in France," he said. "There are these nice little things that the last tournament we were in was in France, and hopefully the next one will be.

"We will try our best to get there, and hopefully we can do it."