Alex McLeish watched Scotland overcome the gamesmanship tactics of Lithuania to record a vital 3-1 win at Hampden then declared: "Justice was done."
The national team manager was furious when Scotland's hopes of qualifying for next summer's European Championships were almost jeopardised by the antics of Hearts' Saulius Mikoliunas.
Mikoliunas shamelessly threw himself down in the box to win a penalty for the visiting nation.
Television footage confirmed stand-in skipper Darren Fletcher did not make contact with the player but Tomas Danilevicius converted from the spot to restore parity after Kris Boyd had headed Scotland ahead.
With three points essential ahead of Wednesday's trip to France, Scotland's hopes of qualification were left hanging in the balance until late goals from Stephen McManus and substitute James McFadden secured a crucial victory.
McLeish was thrilled with the effort of his players afterwards but was clearly still smarting at the decision of 31-year-old referee Damir Skomina, which almost saw all his hard work over the last eight months come undone.
"There was a big degree of simulation," he said of the penalty incident. "I think I will use that word rather than something else.
"We were playing well up until that point and then they got the break with the penalty. There was a sense of injustice but I'm glad to say justice was done in the end.
"I would have been bitter had we dropped points and it had finished 1-1.
"It [simulation] happens more outside of Scotland, there is no doubt about that.
"Players on the continent are renowned for it. David Taylor said on TV a few weeks ago that UEFA were going to look at incidents like that."
Taylor, the UEFA general secretary and former Scottish FA chief executive, has been replaced at Hampden by Gordon Smith, and McLeish hopes Smith's counterpart in Lithuania takes a close look at how today's penalty was won.
"We need the Lithuanian Gordon Smith to have a look at it as well," he said.
"I told the fourth official that the referee and the assistant had missed it.
"It must have been difficult for them to see it. What they saw was Darren's foot going in.
"When you put your foot in there is always a chance of contact but he very deliberately checks his stride and puts his foot down before it gets towards the player.
"I didn't speak about Mikoliunas before the game but we always mention it in general.
"The foreign players are more clever at getting free-kicks than us. We are very honest and always have been."
Fletcher refused Mikoliunas' offer to swap shirts at the end of the match and McLeish shrugged: "That's Darren's choice, that's his call. I don't have any problems with that at all.
"Mikoliunas has won his team a penalty and they would have been happy going back on the plane with a point and it wouldn't have mattered that there was simulation."
Aston Villa's Shaun Maloney climbed off the bench to set up McManus' goal with his first touch of the ball, before fellow substitute McFadden snuffed out any danger of another Lithuanian comeback.
However, McLeish stood by his starting XI - "I think we called it right" - and insisted the heroics of his cameo players will not necessarily earn them a starting berth in the Group B match in Paris against France.
"We need to wait and see," he said. "I think we always tend to react to things like that and say, 'He must play because he scored'.
"I said at the team talk today that it was a close call with the starting line-up and that any one of them could have played in a number of the positions.
"It was up to the guys who got the jersey to try to make it difficult.
"At the same time, anybody who comes off the bench, it's up to them to give us the inspiration we need to give me more selection headaches.
"There are no outstanding candidates in the front positions, I think they are all doing their fair share. It just makes the competition really intense."
Of today's win, McLeish added: "I'm very pleased with the result but obviously we can play better.
"We are absolutely delighted because, if we had played brilliantly and lost, I would be getting different questions today.
"We are sitting on 18 points and I don't think anyone would have said we would have been in that position at this stage when the draw was made."
Lithuania coach Algimantas Liubinskas defended Mikoliunas, insisting: "The penalty was 100%."
But he also backed Scotland to cause another upset in Paris - they defeated France 1-0 at Hampden last year - and go on to qualify.
He added: "The result shows that your team was more professional and concentrated throughout the game.
"Your players play in higher leagues than the Lithuanian players and you have the possibility to finish first or second in the group. Your team has a big possibility in the match against France."
Mikoliunas shamelessly threw himself down in the box to win a penalty for the visiting nation.
Television footage confirmed stand-in skipper Darren Fletcher did not make contact with the player but Tomas Danilevicius converted from the spot to restore parity after Kris Boyd had headed Scotland ahead.
With three points essential ahead of Wednesday's trip to France, Scotland's hopes of qualification were left hanging in the balance until late goals from Stephen McManus and substitute James McFadden secured a crucial victory.
McLeish was thrilled with the effort of his players afterwards but was clearly still smarting at the decision of 31-year-old referee Damir Skomina, which almost saw all his hard work over the last eight months come undone.
"There was a big degree of simulation," he said of the penalty incident. "I think I will use that word rather than something else.
"We were playing well up until that point and then they got the break with the penalty. There was a sense of injustice but I'm glad to say justice was done in the end.
"I would have been bitter had we dropped points and it had finished 1-1.
"It [simulation] happens more outside of Scotland, there is no doubt about that.
"Players on the continent are renowned for it. David Taylor said on TV a few weeks ago that UEFA were going to look at incidents like that."
Taylor, the UEFA general secretary and former Scottish FA chief executive, has been replaced at Hampden by Gordon Smith, and McLeish hopes Smith's counterpart in Lithuania takes a close look at how today's penalty was won.
"We need the Lithuanian Gordon Smith to have a look at it as well," he said.
"I told the fourth official that the referee and the assistant had missed it.
"It must have been difficult for them to see it. What they saw was Darren's foot going in.
"When you put your foot in there is always a chance of contact but he very deliberately checks his stride and puts his foot down before it gets towards the player.
"I didn't speak about Mikoliunas before the game but we always mention it in general.
"The foreign players are more clever at getting free-kicks than us. We are very honest and always have been."
Fletcher refused Mikoliunas' offer to swap shirts at the end of the match and McLeish shrugged: "That's Darren's choice, that's his call. I don't have any problems with that at all.
"Mikoliunas has won his team a penalty and they would have been happy going back on the plane with a point and it wouldn't have mattered that there was simulation."
Aston Villa's Shaun Maloney climbed off the bench to set up McManus' goal with his first touch of the ball, before fellow substitute McFadden snuffed out any danger of another Lithuanian comeback.
However, McLeish stood by his starting XI - "I think we called it right" - and insisted the heroics of his cameo players will not necessarily earn them a starting berth in the Group B match in Paris against France.
"We need to wait and see," he said. "I think we always tend to react to things like that and say, 'He must play because he scored'.
"I said at the team talk today that it was a close call with the starting line-up and that any one of them could have played in a number of the positions.
"It was up to the guys who got the jersey to try to make it difficult.
"At the same time, anybody who comes off the bench, it's up to them to give us the inspiration we need to give me more selection headaches.
"There are no outstanding candidates in the front positions, I think they are all doing their fair share. It just makes the competition really intense."
Of today's win, McLeish added: "I'm very pleased with the result but obviously we can play better.
"We are absolutely delighted because, if we had played brilliantly and lost, I would be getting different questions today.
"We are sitting on 18 points and I don't think anyone would have said we would have been in that position at this stage when the draw was made."
Lithuania coach Algimantas Liubinskas defended Mikoliunas, insisting: "The penalty was 100%."
But he also backed Scotland to cause another upset in Paris - they defeated France 1-0 at Hampden last year - and go on to qualify.
He added: "The result shows that your team was more professional and concentrated throughout the game.
"Your players play in higher leagues than the Lithuanian players and you have the possibility to finish first or second in the group. Your team has a big possibility in the match against France."
Copyright (c) Press Association
Related Articles
'It was a gut feeling': why Scotland star spurned Socceroos
McLeish urges Celtic to sign Socceroo: 'Did he start at Man City?'
