Steve Clarke suggested expectation weighed heavily on the shoulders of Scotland’s players after they laboured at times during the 1-0 win over Haiti. The game marked Scotland’s first at a World Cup since 1998 and delivered a first win since eight years earlier. The Scots top Group C after Brazil drew with Morocco. Yet with those teams, both ranked in the top 10 in the world, still to come there is an understanding Scotland will have to improve to realise their ambition of becoming the first team from the nation to reach the knockout phase of a major tournament.

“I am absolutely delighted with my players,” said Clarke. “Resilience, character had to be on the pitch tonight. There is no relief. Everyone told us it was a must-win game and we won. When you win a must-win game, you have to be happy with yourselves.”

On the challenges ahead, Clarke added: “We go into them with less pressure than everybody put on to us going into this game. If we defend as well as we did here, hopefully play a little bit better with the ball and create more, we will be OK. It’s not about raising the performance, it is about a different approach against a different opponent.

“Towards the end, you know you are 1-0 up and have something to hang on to so that is what you do. The players deserve a lot of credit. I thought Haiti were terrific at denying us time and space, which made it difficult. So the other characteristics that get you three points come out. That is why we are sitting here with three points and Haiti are empty-handed.”

Clarke, who hailed the “exceptional” Lewis Ferguson in midfield, had spoken before the game about his determination to enjoy this World Cup. Scotland, also under Clarke, have toiled at the last two European Championships.

“Sometimes I put myself under too much pressure but when you are in charge of a group like this, you have to appreciate what you have got,” said the 62-year-old. “They have never let me down. This for me is everything, I have always wanted to go to a World Cup with my country.”

Haiti’s head coach, Sébastien Migné, was as effusive as Clarke about his own team’s performance. “We are growing, we are learning,” he said. “On one hand I am very proud of what the boys showed. We rose to the challenge but that makes it all the more frustrating that we came up short. We know that with Haiti nothing is ever easy, we have to be resilient. If we had won, we wouldn’t have succumbed to euphoria so I am not going to call this a catastrophe either.

“From the beginning, we knew it was not going to be easy. Eight best third teams qualifying could have us through even with a win in the third game. Our opponents have a lot more to lose than we do.”

Migné said a number of his players were discussing their claim for a second-half penalty in the Haiti dressing room. The Haitians appealed in vain for a spot kick after the ball struck the arm of the Scotland centre-back Grant Hanley.