Boo boys no bother for goal hero Martin

SCOTLAND striker Chris Martin (right) hopes his winner against Slovenia has injected some renewed optimism into the fans but he will let them make their own mind up on his contribution.

The substitute struck with two minutes left to earn the Scots a 1-0 Hampden victory and revive their hopes of reaching the World Cup Finals.

Gordon Strachan’s decision to bring on the Fulham forward for midfielder James Morrison in the 82nd minute prompted some boos among a small section of the crowd.

But Martin was reluctant to pass comment on whether his goal, which came after an impressive assist from debutant Stuart Armstrong, would win over the doubters.

“Who knows?” the Fulham forward said. “I’m not going to be telling them what they should be thinking or how they should be feeling. Hopefully, they enjoy the three points and there is a bit more optimism going into the England game.

“I didn’t know there was a tough reception when I came on. I was just focused on trying to help the boys out and trying to get a goal that we deserved during the game.”

Martin was delighted to repay Strachan’s faith after he scored the goal which more than likely kept the Scotland boss in his job.

When asked whether that had done it for the manager, he said: “I think we always do, for the manager, for each other, and obviously for the country.

“He has shown faith in every single one of us, the squad has been pretty similar.

“We had some very good additions this time round, Stuart Armstrong had a great debut and deservedly Man of the Match. He showed some great talent and extremely good work-rate.

“It was for everyone and it was for our hopes as well as players. We knew it was a must-win game and, in the circumstances, it was a very good performance and we deserved to win.”

Scotland moved up to fourth in Group F, two points behind Slovakia and one behind Slovenia ahead of the visit of England on June 10.

Martin said: “Hopefully, it gives us even more confidence than we already had. We backed our own ability.

“The campaign hadn’t gone the way we hoped but now we can take some encouragement and confidence, and, hopefully, this builds some momentum now and can be a real turning point for us.

“It puts us a couple of points off second place so we are right back in the mix and no better game next up.”

Meanwhile, boss Strachan described Stuart Armstrong’s debut as the “best Scottish debut I have ever seen” and the first half as “probably” the best during his tenure.

On Armstrong, Strachan said: “He did well but there were other guys who were special as well.”