THE dress rehearsal is over, opening night awaits. And Scotland look ready to put on a show for the Tartan Army, who have waited 23 years to see it.

Ok, there were some aspects of their narrow win over Luxembourg in their final warm-up friendly to give Scotland fans a little stage fright, not least their wastefulness in front of goal in a second half played out against 10 men.

But it was job done in the end, with a first-half strike from Che Adams enough to keep the feel-good factor intact heading into the real thing next week.

The strength of the side put out by manager Steve Clarke gave the impression that he indeed viewed this as a chance to seriously tune up for next Monday’s curtain-raiser against the Czech Republic, but unfortunately, he couldn’t direct the supporting cast provided by Luxembourg. Vahid Selimovic exited stage left in the first-half for a daft pull on Lyndon Dykes, and rather blunted the effectiveness of the exercise in the process.

Still, there was plenty for the watching Tartan Army to get excited about, not least the strike partnership between Lyndon Dykes and goalscorer Adams, with the pair causing all sorts of problems for the home defence in the first half, despite their profligacy in the second.

The question now is who will remain in the spotlight when the curtain comes up for real next Monday. Perhaps the most tantalising performance came after intermission, with the half-time introduction of Billy Gilmour showing that the Chelsea youngster might have what it takes to break out of his apparent understudy role and become a starring performer for his country at the European Championships.

Gilmour’s first real involvement was to glide past two players as if they weren’t there and bring out a good low save from Luxembourg keeper Anthony Moris. He then put a first time ball over the top that almost had Dykes in on goal again, showing his speed of thought and ability to execute a forward pass.

When John McGinn then brought a very decent save out of Moris, Dykes fed the ball back to Gilmour on the edge of the box. It was something of a hospital pass, but Gilmour feinted and dinked the ball over the lunge of a Luxembourg defender, then dipped a shoulder to work the ball onto his right peg and get an effort away that Moris again had to repel high to his left.

There was huge concern when with 20 minutes remaining though when Luxembourg’s Sebastien Thill came barrelling through Gilmour late and leading with the shoulder, leaving the Chelsea youngster as dazed as his opponents had been since his introduction. Had it been a competitive game, surely the hosts would have been down to nine.

The cowardly challenge deprived Gilmour the chance to impress further, and denied Scotland fans the opportunity to get further excited by what they were seeing from the 19-year-old.

He was taken off as a precaution, perhaps with the thought of starting him against the Czech Republic in mind. Some may say it is important not to get carried away by a 20-odd minute performance against a 10-man Luxembourg team, but where’s the fun in that?

Elsewhere, David Marshall was back in the sticks and got a chance to show what he could do when the Scots made a mess of defending an early corner, with the ball deflecting off Grant Hanley and towards the bottom corner. The hero of Serbia got down well though to claw it to safety. And that’s about all he had to do.

And as mentioned, the top two were working hard and linking well, particularly in the early stages. Adams forced an error from goalkeeper Moris, but Dykes’ heavy first touch saw the ball land back at the grateful keeper. The forward was much sharper soon after though as he attacked an inviting Andy Robertson cross and crashed a header off the post.

If Clarke was swithering over the wisdom of pairing Dykes and Adams in the game against the Czechs then he may have made his mind up though soon after as the duo combined to put Scotland ahead.

Dykes strode at the Luxembourg defence after being fed by Stephen O’Donnell on the right, while Adams pulled wide off the back of his marker. His strike partner got the timing and weight of the pass spot on to allow the Southampton man to sweep home under Moris.

They were at it again when Adams then slipped a delightful reverse pass in behind the home defence for Dykes to latch onto, only for Selimovic to inexplicably haul him down and leave the referee with no option but to send him off 10 minutes before the break.

The second half was a chance to give some players like Gilmour and debutant Nathan Patterson run-outs, and while they were both impressive, it had turned into a training exercise.

Dykes and Adams both had the ball in the net only for both goals to be chopped off for infringements, while they could have had a hatful had they been right on their game.

That will be the only concern for Scotland, with Dykes in particular – though far from exclusively - guilty of some glaring misses.

Two morale-boosting performances all-in-all though, and there is plenty to suggest that Scotland may be primed to bring the Hampden house down this time next week.