McLeish backs O'Connor to go on and on

O'Connor had been left out in the cold after going AWOL ahead of a European Championship qualifier against the Ukraine just days after October's triumphant victory over France during Walter Smith's reign.

McLeish's decision to end the player's international exile paid off, and he said: "In this game, it is the players who get back up when they've been knocked down who can go on and have a good career. Garry responded to the pressure on him by scoring the winning goal and having a very good partnership with Kris Boyd."

He added: "I'm very pleased that Garry has made an impact and that was probably very important for him. We had faith in what he can do, we have covered him over the last month on DVD and Andy Watson went over to Moscow to see him and saw him score the winning goal in the cup final.

"We didn't feel it was a gamble to use Garry because we know the qualities he can bring but it was nice to see that we looked very dangerous."

The only low point of the match was the sight of Lee McCulloch limping out of the action and he could now be a doubt for the trip to the Faroes.

McLeish said: "We need to wait 24 hours, which is normal. He turned on his ankle and we need to assess him in the morning to see if there is any major trauma to the injury."

However, the Scotland boss believes the decision to have the international friendly against Austria has proved to be a worthwhile exercise ahead of a far more vital game next Wednesday.

He said: "We know that we have a very difficult game next week that we are expected to win. We will take positives from tonight's game and I feel very confident about the win."

Austria coach Josef Hickersberger had no complaints about the result, saying: "I would like to congratulate Alex McLeish and the Scotland national team on their win. They were more mature, they had better play than we had and after they scored they kept the play under control."