Steven Fletcher answered his critics with a historic Hampden hat-trick to help Scotland to an emphatic 6-1 win over Group D minnows Gibraltar.
There was an early scare for Gordon Strachan’s side when policeman Lee Casciaro cancelled Shaun Maloney’s penalty opener to make it 1-1 mid-way through the first half.
But from the moment Fletcher restored the Scot’s lead the result never looked in doubt.
And as well as another two from the Sunderland forward, there was a second penalty strike from Maloney and a goal from Steven Naismith.
It was a big day in Fletcher’s Scotland career though.
Up until yesterday he had only scored once in the dark blue of his country, and that was six years ago.
The hat-trick was Scotland’s first in 46 years Colin Stein notching the previous one against Cyprus back in 1969.
Clutching the match-ball, signed by his team-mates, that will be taking pride of place in the family home, Fletcher said: “I hadn’t scored for a while so I would have been happy to score one goal.
“I’m delighted to have got three.
“I’ve been told that it’s the first Scottish hat-trick in a long time. I was quite shocked because I thought Kenny (Dalglish) would have got one, and there have been a lot of great strikers who have played since then.
“It’s great to be a part of that.
“My last hat-trick was against Gretna for Hibs. It’s in a glass cabinet and I’ll probably put this one next to it.
“It’s one of the best achievements in my career.”
He added: “I knew it had been a while since I scored last. I get told about it every day.
“I’ve had a long time out of the team as well, so it feels good.
“It wasn’t getting to me. I was still confident going into games that I would score but I’ve not really had many chances.
“I got a lot today and probably could have actually got more than three.”
Fletcher admitted that the Gibraltar equaliser their first goal in the Euro 2016 qualifiers took him by surprise.
“They caught us out after we just scored, which was a shock,” he said.
“But we got composed and took control of the game after we got our second. After that we looked like we could score every time we went up the park.
“We were massive favourites, which brings its own pressure.
“Their goal was a kick in the teeth but we got the job done and scored a few goals on the way.”
It’s not just international goals that have been a rare commodity for Fletcher.
Club goals have been too.
“I’ll take confidence from today,” he pointed out.
“Obviously I’ve got to go back to Sunderland before the game in the summer against Ireland, and hopefully I’ll do enough to be in the gaffer’s plans when that game comes round.
“I know I haven’t been scoring up until today but the gaffer has been happy with my link-up play and if I can to that and add goals it will be happy days.”