I don’t want to sound too much like a misery guts because I do think that it is only right that you get the chance to celebrate a victory. And, heaven knows, there have been far more downs than ups when it comes to following Scotland, so I can understand why people wanted to milk the win over Slovenia for all that it was worth.

However, while I was as elated as anyone with the win you still have to be able to take a realistic look at where we still are in the group.

The one thing you can say about Sunday’s result and performance is that it was arguably the best competitive performance we have seen from Scotland for the best part of two-and-a-half years – since the Republic of Ireland game, I think – and that augers well that we have that in us going forward.

Read more: Exclusive: Celtic captain Scott Brown hints that he will seek Brendan Rodgers' blessing to captain Scotland v England

But to get one of the play-off places, the fact is that simply getting second place isn’t enough. You also have to take substantially more points and that would equate to a dramatic improvement for the remainder of this campaign.

The fact remains that Scotland have taken just 7 points from 5 matches and that kind of form is never going to be good enough to get us through.

If you consider, as I know many people do, that the game against England in June is unlikely to yield three points, then you have to look at winning all remaining games that come after that and I just don’t know how much of a realistic proposition that is.

You also have to point out that Slovenia were also disappointingly poor on Sunday night. I had expected more of them as a team but they were content to come and stonewall Scotland without ever offering any real indication of trying to adventure forward.

They will, however, be a very different team when it comes to hosting Scotland on their own turf later in the campaign. I am sure it will be a far tougher 90 minutes that we will have when we go over there.

So while I don’t want to be the guy who is standing pouring cold water on a feeling of excitement and jubilation, I do think that we have to urge caution before anyone gets too far ahead of themselves.

One swallow does not make a summer, as the old saying goes, and while Stuart Armstrong put in a cracking performance last night, I do think that also begs the question as to why he was not involved in the set-up earlier.

Read more: Scotland boss Gordon Strachan confident Kieran Tierney can take latest Danny McGrain comparisons in his stride

We have all seen the improvements and the way he has responded under Brendan Rodgers this season and it makes you wonder why we didn’t have that influence in some of the earlier qualification games.

Similarly, I would also keep Leigh Griffiths in the starting line-up for the game against England in June, whether his club situation is the same or not.

I know that he should and could have done better with the first-half chances he had, especially the first one, but I don’t think that it was quite up there with the Chris Iwelumo miss.

It was one that he will irked at missing but the thing for me with Griffiths is that he is a player who gets himself into the right positions to make the chance. You have to bear in my mind that missing opportunities is part of the requisite of a striker’s routine and I reckon that if you have Griffiths in there that you always have the chance of nicking something.

He is by far the player who is most suited to fitting into the system that Strachan plays at Scotland. I know that Chris Martin came off the bench – and to now quite universal approval – to score the winner, but for me, it would be Griffiths in there come June.