Scotland's 1-0 victory over France in a European Championship qualifier at last gave the Tartan Army something to celebrate. The fans hope to raise their glasses again after Wednesday's game at Ukraine.

A surprise triumph over the World Cup runner-up put Walter Smith's team three points clear at the top of Group B as the Scots try to reach a major championship for the first time since 1998.

Well into the early hours of Sunday, hundreds of fans braved rain and wind to celebrate in downtown Glasgow after Saturday's victory at Hampden Park. While supporters woke to hangovers, coach Walter Smith was shrugging off the euphoria of Saturday's victory to concentrate on Wednesday's game at Ukraine.

``I told the players that the last time we beat one of the leading teams 1-0 at Hampden, we lost 6-0 the following Wednesday,'' he said. The Scotland manager was referring to back-to-back results against the Netherlands in the playoffs for Euro 2004, before he took over.

That loss was in Amsterdam. Now the Scots travel much further to Kiev to face a team which hopes to bounce back from a 2-0 loss to world champion Italy and badly needs striker Andriy Shevchenko to recover from a virus to play.

While Berti Vogts' team missed out on a trip to the Euro 2004 finals in Portugal, Smith's players now have the belief that they will make it to the 2008 competition being co-hosted by Austria and Switzerland.

``It's terrific when the Scotland players do achieve a result and see that, by working as hard as they do, that they can achieve it. I don't think they had that belief previously,'' Smith said.

``I think that we are beginning to see that now,'' the former Rangers and Everton manager said. ``The players deserve enormous credit for the way they have applied themselves. It's not easy for them and it's good, when they do achieve a result like this, that they get the reward for it.''

The Scots top their group with nine points from three games, France lies second with six and Italy third with four, level on points with Lithuania. Ukraine is fifth with three although it has a game in hand on the teams above.

``The table looks great,'' Smith said. ``It is a nice change to see us up there.''

Gary Caldwell, the Celtic defender who scored the 67th minute winning goal, said he would never forget it.

``It was one of the best feelings I've ever had in football,'' he said. ``The manager pointed out that three of the last five goals France conceded were from set pieces and the delivery (from Paul Hartley's corner) was good. The game plan worked perfectly.

``It was an amazing sight at the end. You would think we had won the European Championships. But there's a long way to go and we have to get our feet back on the ground for Wednesday.''

Scotland defender Christian Dailly, a veteran of 64 appearances who will miss the game against Ukraine after picking up a yellow card against the French, said Saturday's victory was the best he had been involved in.

``There have been some great games that I have played in at Hampden Park but I can't think of anything to beat that, especially when you consider who we were playing against,'' the West Ham defender said. ``France are the best side in the world at the moment and, to win that game, was a tremendous achievement for us.''