Scotland manager Craig Levein's over-riding feeling was one of disappointment after his side were forced to settle for a goalless draw against Serbia.
But the national team boss claims he has also taken plenty of encouragement from the stalemate as they began their World Cup campaign with a point.
He said: "It was going to be difficult to get a victory, we acknowledged that and we didn't manage to get the three points. I'm disappointed but more about the fact that we had opportunities and didn't take them."
He added: ""The upside for me is that we had a number of players who, although they played well, can play an awful lot better so there is encouragement as well. Nothing has changed. In fact, I'm more confident now than I was before the match."
The Scots had been hoping for maximum points from two home games against the Serbs and Macedonia to give them the best possible start in what is set to be a tough Group A. Although disappointed by the result, Levein refused to be too down at the outcome of what he always expected to be a tough opening qualifier.
He said: "I'm disappointed we didn't win but I saw the chances we created, I look at the opportunities we had to hit Serbia in the areas where we knew they were weak and I could count half a dozen times when we just didn't play almost a simple pass to put people through on goal.
"That won't happen again. Our guys will improve in that regard and that gives me encouragement that we're going to be better on Tuesday."
Asked if Tuesday's game against Macedonia is now one the Scots need to win, Levein replied: "Probably, yes. Certainly it would be beneficial to win the game on Tuesday.
"We wanted to win (here) as well and we did enough to win the game, we just didn't score the goals. That's football. We have played teams of a similar standard to Serbia before and didn't have enough possession and chances.
"We have moved forward enormously in that regard. I see a huge progression. I'm disappointed but I'm not down about it. The lads put on a decent show. I thought we deserved to win the game."
Source: PA
