Smith delight at Scots response

Virtual Replay: Watch 3D animations of Scotland's goals v Slovenia

Slovenia 0-3 Scotland

Scotland manager Walter Smith was glad to see his players end their fruitless World Cup quest with a win in Slovenia.

"We were all disappointed after Saturday's loss to Belarus and that poor first half showing at Hampden," Smith told BBC Sport.

"But I got a terrific reaction and three fantastic goals and hopefully that can set us on a steadier path.

"We have a group of players who work extremely hard and we can achieve a good level for the next campaign."

Smith must now look ahead to Euro 2008, with Scotland missing out on yet another major tournament.

And the manager can be cautiously optimistic after a good showing against Slovenia, who were the second seeds when the World Cup draw was made.

"The players have shown a willingness to compete and we are a hard team to beat," added Smith.

"If we stick together then I think we can achieve something."

Darren Fletcher was outstanding for Scotland, scoring the first of three great goals and setting up the other two.

"It's always enjoyable to win 3-0," the Manchester United midfielder told BBC Sport.

"We put in a lot of effort and got the win we deserved.

"There were three good goals and the quality of the performance was pleasing.

"Apart from the first half against Belarus our displays under Walter Smith have been good."

Paul Hartley, scorer of the third goal, added: "We let ourselves and the manager down on Saturday so we had to rectify that.

"It was a great team performance."