Charlie Mulgrew did not fear for his Scotland place – despite missing the national team’s upset win in Croatia in June because he was being married.
Since then, the Celtic defender has enjoyed a honeymoon period in Scotland’s midfield as Gordon Strachan’s team followed up with another victory in Macedonia.
Despite the positivity surrounding these two rare away successes, Scotland were already out of the running for next summer’s World Cup finals in Brazil and they face Croatia at home on Tuesday with only pride at stake.
The Scots will be without forward Jordan Rhodes, who has groin and finger injuries, but will be aiming to conclude a campaign to forget with a first home victory.
Former Aberdeen player Mulgrew married Alana on June 8 – the day after Scotland triumphed in Zagreb – yet always remained confident he would regain his place in the national squad.
He said: “It was a great result and performance from the boys in Zagreb.
“Croatia are a team high up in the world rankings, so it was great for confidence.
“It definitely went right through the squad.
“The game was on the night before I got married and I had something on the next day. I saw the game and it was a great performance.
“No one really gave us a chance that night, so that made it even better.
“Croatia had a lot of the ball and were on the attack quite a bit but that is what you expect away from home against a team like that.
“You can’t really think that missing a game like that will make it more difficult for you to get into the next Scotland squad. You have to stay positive and believe you can get into the next one.
“The manager was good about it.
“He did not say I would definitely be in the next squad, I don’t think any manager would say that.
“As a player, you know you have to work hard to get in any Scotland squad.
“He was very good and understanding about it but I knew I would have to work hard to get back in.
“It was worrying at the time and I wasn’t looking forward to the phone call to tell him to be honest.
“I just went for it one day and got it out of the way.”
Mulgrew wants to play a part in completing the double over Croatia, who are ranked the 10th best team in the world.
The Parkhead defender added: “We want to finish the qualifying campaign on a high.
“Every game for Scotland is important.
“After beating Croatia away from home, we are looking to carry that forward and get a good result against them at Hampden Park.
“To qualify for any major tournament, you need to have good home form.
“So even though it was a good performance last time at Hampden against Belgium, we need a home win to give us confidence going into the next campaign.
“With a bit of luck we could have got something out of that match against Belgium.
“Maybe things could have been a bit different in the group, but there is no point in looking back.
“You have to look forward.
“Hopefully, we can get a positive performance and result and then to look to the next campaign because that is what we can affect – we can’t look back.
“We have to take the positives and have belief that we can qualify.”