Republic of Ireland manager Martin O'Neill was full of praise for his team's stirring fight back in their 1-1 draw with Poland on Sunday, but he admitted their hopes of qualifying for Euro 2016 may now rest on their next qualifier.
O'Neill believes his side now need to beat Scotland in June to keep alive their hopes of automatic qualification for the finals in France next year, but he took huge encouragement from an uplifting second-half display that was given a finishing flourish by Shane Long's injury-time equaliser.
Slawomir Peszko had given Poland a first half lead in Dublin. However, the Irish scored their third late goal of their Group D qualifying effort to stay just two points behind Scotland heading into their meeting with the local rival.
"I think we have to beat Scotland now," O'Neill told reporters. "It probably just boils down to that, we have to win that game and if the second half against Poland is anything to go by then we are capable of doing that.
"I thought we were terrific in the second half, absolutely terrific. We may be lacking in some area, but courage and spirit are not among them. I know they are clichéd phrases, but it does show something about the character of the team.
"At least we keep going right to the end, and that late goal from Shang Long could be very important. It keeps everything in the mix heading into the Scotland game."
Ireland have now snatched a late winner against Georgia and a last-gasp equaliser against Germany in this qualifying run, with O'Neill suggesting their never-say-die spirit is one of their finest qualities.
"I don't think it's a fluke now that we have scored late goals in games," he added. "That's three times now we have scored recently in the last few moments. We also hit the bar against Scotland late, so there is something of a pattern now.
"We started off tentatively in this game. We were a little bit nervous and just when we started to get into the game we conceded, from our viewpoint, a very poor goal.
"However, we pushed Poland onto the back foot in the second half and we deserved the point at the very least. We have hit the woodwork twice, we have given everything to get back into the game and the feeling in the stadium confirms the supporters believe in the team again.
"Belief is vital in this game. I said to the players at have time that they had to believe in themselves and I think they showed with their second half performance that belief is not an issue. That is encouraging moving forward."
The Republic of Ireland's next match is a high-profile friendly fixture against England in Dublin on June 7, before the Scotland game on June 13.