First start in six years may be Wallace’s last
He knows that keeping the left- back berth he occupied against England is going to be very difficult.
The 29-year-old accepts he was only picked to play at Wembley because of injuries to Andy Robertson and Kieran Tierney.
Wallace believes they will be mainstays of the national squad for many years to come.
It has taken him seven years to collect his nine full caps and he accepts it won’t be easy to reach double figures.
Wallace said: “We were weaker as a squad without Andrew Robertson and Kieran Tierney.
“Even before the squad was announced, I said these guys are going to be the future in the left-back position for our country.
“I’ll be hungry to push them all the way if I’m picked in the future.
“But we all know their quality and that they’re going to go on to bigger and better things.
“These guys are top, top players.”
Scotland boss Gordon Strachan made special mention of Wallace’s performance against England in the wake of Friday’s night’s defeat.
That can maybe give him some hope of featuring for the country in another international.
Although vastly e x p e r i e n c e d , Wa l l a c e admits the years playing in the lower leagues with Rangers haven’t helped his career when it comes to performing at elite level.
T h a t ’s w h y Friday night’s game was his first Scotland start in six years.
His only previous competitive match came against Liechtenstein in September, 2010.
He admitted: “I ’m really appreciative of those words from the manager.
“But I’m still gutted at the result against England.
“Even though I had eight caps, I had never played against the level of player England have, and we were playing with a new defence.
“It was a tough challenge, but I was determined not to use any of that as an excuse.
“I wanted to rise to the challenge, come in and do the best as I can.
“I could have maybe got a wee bit closer to Lallana for the header at their second goal and I’ll look at that.
“I will analyse my performance and learn from it.
“It’s so disappointing we d i d n’t give the Scotland supporters something to cheer about.
“But I believe there’s still hope in this qualifying campaign.
“We’re not going to be full of doom and gloom.
“There are four home games to come that are all winnable.
“We’re determined to move Scotland up the table.”