Scotland manager Alex McLeish hailed his players for taking their Euro 2008 qualifying campaign to the final game, despite a 2-0 defeat in Georgia.
"I don't think anybody gave us a prayer of being in this position," McLeish told BBC Sport. "And everybody in Scotland should be grateful for that.
"To be going into the game against the Italians needing to win is phenomenal.
"Maybe our momentum was disrupted by missing players and we were short of the quality we had in other games."
Scotland started the night top of Group B and a victory would have meant another point against Italy would take them through to Austria and Switzerland.
But they lost to a Georgia side fielding three teenagers, without several of their key players and experiencing only their third win of the campaign.
"We've won our five games at home, so there's no reason why we can't beat Italy at Hampden"
McLeish thought that his own absentees through injury and suspension had proved more significant.
"I don't think their coach took a gamble," he said. "I don't think he had any choice.
"They have some good young players. Players who dribble and run at defenders and ignite the crowds over here.
"Nobody gets an easy game in Georgia and they have made it difficult for a lot of teams considered better quality than us.
"To be fair to Georgia, they played a good game.
"We were getting on top by the end of the first half and maybe should have had a penalty that could have changed the complexion of the game.
"We did not get the big decisions, but maybe the changes were just too much for our side.
"I said on Saturday that bigger countries can cope with that than us.
"We had four first-choice players missing tonight and that is not a criticism of the players who came in.
"They are gutted in there in the dressing-room."
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Scotland slipped to second in Group B after France defeated Lithuania thanks to two goals in the final 12 minutes.
Striker Kenny Miller admitted that Scotland did not deserve a point from their game but thought they could still qualify.
"It was a disappointing performance all round," he said.
"We never really got started. We were not hard to play against as a team and that is what we have been doing in previous games.
"In our camp, we new it was going to be a difficult game and we were prepared for it.
"We wanted to come here and win and we have the squad capable of coping with injuries and suspensions.
"Things have been going incredibly well and the victory on Saturday has still set us up nicely.
"Maybe we were overdue a bad result and hopefully we will be back on the boil against Italy.
"We've won our five games at home, so there's no reason why we can't beat them at Hampden."
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