George Burley's men kept their dream of reaching next summer's finals alive yesterday thanks to a super second-half performance against Macedonia.

Victory is now needed against the Dutch to give Scotland a realistic chance of securing a play-off spot.

Holland have run away with Group Nine, and were the first European nation to qualify for the finals back in June.

It has been suggested they will either rest players or simply not be up for Wednesday night's match.

But Scotland captain Fletcher is not about to fall into the trap of taking victory for granted against one of the best teams in the world.

"When you've got no pressure, sometimes you can loosen up and perform better," said Fletcher of a side who have already beaten Norway since qualifying.

"Everyone says Holland are through - they won't care about this match.

"But any Holland player who plays in this game will be thinking, 'Can I get in the team for the World Cup?'. What a massive incentive that is.

"We can't control what Holland team turns up or how they play. All we can do is think of ourselves and prepare for the game in the right way. That starts now."

Manchester United midfielder Fletcher played his part in a rousing second-half display yesterday, which saw Scotland score two superb goals through Scott Brown and James McFadden.

However, it is no understatement to say Macedonia could have been out of sight before then, with Craig Gordon producing three crucial saves to deny the outstanding Goran Pandev.

Fletcher insists the 2-0 win unfolded just as the under-fire Burley had predicted.

"The game panned out exactly the way the manager said it would," he said.

"Macedonia are a strong side in the first half and they try to get in the lead; they're good at holding onto that.

"Second half, they're not as fit and fall away in games, and that's exactly the way it turned out.

"We took the game to them - after big Craig made a great save to keep us in the match - and we went on to win."

The outcome was far from perfect for Scotland, however.

The talismanic McFadden will now miss Wednesday night's game after picking up a controversial booking just before half-time.

Full-back Callum Davidson is definitely out with a hamstring injury that forced him off after just 13 minutes yesterday, while Brown is carrying an ankle knock.

Fletcher backed his fellow midfielder to play on through the pain, saying: "He'll be there, even if he's still a bit sore.

"I'm sure that if he's got a chance to play, he'll strap up and get on with it because he's that type of player."

On the loss of McFadden, Fletcher added: "Faddy's like an enigma for Scotland; he gives us that something different.

"He knew at half-time he was missing the Holland game, but he didn't let it affect him.

"He went out second half, performed like that, scored the second goal and showed great character."

Fletcher accused referee Wolfgang Stark of mishandling the incident that got McFadden booked.

Macedonia had kicked the ball out of play due to an injury but instead of asking Scotland to return possession to their opponents, Stark ordered a drop ball.

Brown then kicked the ball off Igor Mitreski for a corner, sparking an unseemly melee.

Fletcher said: "Usually in those cases, the referee will drop the ball to one of the Scotland players to kick it back.

"But he dropped the ball, saying, '50-50'.

"Now if Scott Brown doesn't go in for a 50-50 100%, he could end up getting injured.

"If the referee drops the ball, saying, 'Kick it back to Macedonia', then we do that.

"Broony did everything under the letter of the law, did everything right, and their players took offence.

"It's caused Faddy to get booked, from their overreaction."

Filip Despotovski was also cautioned and Fletcher added: "I think the referee's just picked out two numbers, one of which was James, which is fairly disappointing for us.

"I don't think anything can be done about it but that's what we've got to deal with."

The bad blood also spilled over into the tunnel at half-time.

Fletcher said: "There was a little bit of shouting but nothing major."