Scotland 1-0 Slovakia: Chris Martin hopes momentum carries over to Slovenia

Scotland striker Chris Martin came off the bench to play a pivotal role in the 1-0 win over Slovakia

Chris Martin hopes Scotland's momentum following the 1-0 victory over Slovakia can help propel the national team to the World Cup play-offs.

Victory on Sunday away to Slovenia could see Scotland take their place in the November double-header.

Martin put Martin Skrtel under pressure as the Slovak defender turned the ball into his own net to give Scotland a last-gasp victory at Hampden.

"It meant a lot to us," said the Derby County striker.

"We were frustrated at not taking the lead earlier on in the game but in the end we got our rewards.

"We got the job done at the end of the day. We hit the crossbar twice, we kept getting in there, lots of crosses into the box."

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Scotland played three-quarters of the match against 10 men following Robert Mak's sending off. But it took Scotland until the 89th minute to make the breakthrough.

Martin admits doubts were creeping in after Scotland went close several times, but the score remained at 0-0.

"I know we were playing against 10 men, which people think is going to be an easy game, but it was far from it. They got a lot of men behind the ball and defended well for long periods.

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"But I felt we kept the belief, and kept going and we deserved it.

"Sometimes you do feel it's not going to be your day. Maybe the fans watching it were getting a bit frustrated, but I felt on the pitch we just kept trying to do the job - basically keep going, getting the ball wide, moving the ball around.

"[Leigh] Griffiths rolls his man, the man comes towards him and leaves Ikechi Anya free down the right. That doesn't always happen on the 50th minute or the 60th minute.

"It took to very late on when they're tired for them to leave somebody free and it results in a goal for us. So that's credit to us for the character and belief to keep going."

The focus now turns to Sunday's match away in Ljubljana where the task is straightforward for Scotland - a win guarantees second place and most likely a World Cup play-offs spot as one of the best eight group runners-up.

"It's obviously massive," said Martin.

"We know what's at stake. We are going to recover well from tonight and go again. We'll assess what Slovenia are about, refresh the ideas on their team. We'll be giving it our all."

"We have gained real momentum in the last few months with the performances and the results that we have had.

"We are playing a lot better than we were towards the start of the campaign and hopefully we get the rewards for the hard work that we put in, not just in this campaign but in previous campaigns where we have been unlucky as well."