At the end, there seemed to be bewilderment among the masses of Hampden, a dazed feeling about how to react to what they'd just witnessed. To boo or not to boo? To cheer or just fall in a heap from the stress of it all? A victory, but a lousy performance, one of the worst of the Steve Clarke era. A World Cup campaign still on track - two more victories and they're there - but an endgame that saw Scotland wobbling across the winning line, like a marathon runner whose legs have gone. Hanging on in the closing minutes against a team that conceded 17 goals in their past four games, including six against Denmark last time out. This was three valuable points but it was also exhausting and deeply concerning. More of this and Scotland's World Cup hopes will be dead in the water, if not in Group C but in the play-offs.

Scott McTominay spoke later about the need for higher standards and nobody would have been of a mind to disagree. Andy Robertson, the captain looking a shadow of the player he so regularly is, said it didn't feel like a win at all, which it didn't. Clarke, who became Scotland's longest serving men's head coach, said he should be feeling really good about the milestone but was actually "standing here really disappointed". There was a surreal air to it all. Rarely have this team been so miserable on the back of a win. To a man, they looked mournful. Clarke called the performance "a head-scratcher" and pointed out that he's not often disappointed - the word of the night - by his team, but that he was this time. Not good enough on both sides of the ball, he said. "Belarus dictated the whole night, to be honest."

Scotland lacked in every department you could care to mention. For the most part, they looked like strangers, incoherent in possession and vulnerable out. Nothing worked. The Kenny McLean-Billy Gilmour midfield combination was a mess. Even when they got what they were looking for by way of an early goal from Che Adams, they had little or no grip on the game. When McTominay smashed in Scotland's second six minutes before the end, he ran away with the nonchalance of a man who was adding a cherry on top of a rich performance instead of settling nerves at the end of a massively fractious game. In scoring the 13th goal of his international career, McTominay displayed a cool that belied the stress, but it didn't last and nor did it deserve to last. Belarus had more attempts on Scotland's goal than Scotland had on theirs - and when Hleb Kuchko nipped in ahead of Robertson to make it 2-1, it was deserved. You could argue that they deserved more. A draw would have been a fairer outcome. An away win would not have been a robbery.

Central to the deal when you come to Hampden is the possibility of palpitations, dizziness and nausea - and so it was again on Sunday. Some of the chat leading up to this game involved the gallows humour so close to the heart of most members of the Tartan Army. Having put themselves into a highly promising position, with seven points from nine, including a miraculous escape against the Greeks, the fatalists spoke of how typical it would be if Scotland struggled against the weakest team in the group. This was, in many ways, a continuation of the fretfulness of Thursday, but against an opponent that had only a scintilla of Greece's ability. Belarus are point-less and goalless in the campaign. Nobody really thought this would turn into such a horrible experience, but they spoke about the possibility nonetheless, teased themselves with the potential horror of it all.

Over the course of the past two games, there's been an alarming lack of influence from many of Clarke's go-to players. Robertson looked off the pace; John McGinn was out of sorts; McTominay, despite his goal, looked a pale imitation of last season when tearing it up in Italy. Adams was impressive and Ben Gannon-Doak threatened to be. He's still a teenager whose pace and ability to ghost past defenders is second nature to him. What he does after that is the bit he must learn. The thinking game. Decision-making. Gannon-Doak puts himself in good positions but too often wastes his own good work with hurried deliveries that are easily dealt with. He'll get there. He's too talented not to.

Clarke said he has a lot to mull over, which he does. He said that when it "comes to the crunch we'll be ready". The crunch is next month with a visit to Greece and a home game against Denmark that will conclude the group. Scotland's readiness is now a matter of serious debate. Those games will be extraordinarily anxious. The group table, they say, doesn't lie, but it really does. It's one giant porky pie. Scotland are lucky to be sitting in such a fantastic position. They were fortunate to beat Greece and you could say the same about Belarus on Sunday. They survived and it was a blessing, but unless they find their best stuff in the month ahead then this campaign is going to have a grim ending. Clarke and his players know this better than anybody. If they were impressive on Sunday it was in the way they spoke rather than in the way they played. They didn't shirk it. They know that you don't get to a World Cup on luck alone. They need to find themselves again before the final push.