McLeish hails 'best Hampden win'

McLeish was delighted with McFadden and the rest of the side

Scotland manager Alex McLeish described the 3-1 victory over Ukraine as the best at Hampden under his stewardship.

"What a fantastic journey for these players," said McLeish, whose side sit top of Euro 2008 qualification Group B with two games remaining.

"Nobody gave us a prayer at the start as I have never been involved in as hard a group as this.

"But this was the best performance at Hampden since I have come back. It was a great performance."

Interview: Scotland's James McFadden

Interview: Scotland boss Alex McLeish

Interview: Scotland defender Alan Hutton

McLeish was especialy delighted with the start that saw his side 2-0 up within 10 minutes.

"We got off to a fantastic flyer, but we let them back into it for nothing," he said.

The confidence in the squad to win games is incredible Scotland goalscorer James McFadden

"That was disappointing, but we knew they would come into at some stage.

"There were passages when they made it difficult for us, but we did not panic."

Scotland have surprised many by topping a group containing World Cup finalists France and Italy.

"They just keep climbing mountains. With every win, every performance, they keep growing," said McLeish.

Scotland now know that, even if they lose in Georgia on Wednesday, their final game at home to Italy will still be meaningful as far as qualification is concerned.

"They can go into the Italy game knowing that this place will be rocking again," said McLeish.

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Everton forward James McFadden scored a goal and had a hand in the other two.

"Going into the game, we thought it was probably the hardest game that we've had because of the expectation levels," he said.

"But we knew what we could do and we went about it the right way.

"The confidence in the squad to win games is incredible, but the job is just half done.

"The whole country is buzzing, but the players are just excited as the fans."

McFadden felt he should have had a first-half penalty.

"Absolutely, but the referee's admitted his mistake to me in the second half and that's all you can ask for," McFadden said. "Thankfully, it wasn't a big mistake and we didn't need it."