Alex McLeish admits Scotland have to improve and overcome the negativity surrounding their Euro 2020 campaign after a nervy win over San Marino.

Scotland got off to the start they craved after a shock opening defeat in Kazakhstan when Kenny McLean scored inside four minutes but the tempo tailed off and slackness grew. Some of the almost 3,000 away supporters subsequently chanted against the Scottish Football Association.

Johnny Russell settled fears of another shock by scoring in the 74th minute but McLeish knows a 2-0 win against the lowest-ranked team in the world is not going to begin the process of redemption following their 3-0 defeat in the Astana Arena.

On the jeers, he said: “That’s football. I have heard it over the years since I became a professional in different stages of my career. Sometimes the players get a bit nervous about that and that’s why sometimes you don’t see the free-flowing football that we saw in November.

“They [the fans] were frustrated that we never kicked on from the first goal. We did try to keep things going. They are human beings. Sometimes they get affected by that but they have to come through that.”

McLeish made six changes and a bold choice in his central striking role by selecting Cardiff’s Callum Paterson, a midfielder for his club and a right-back for his country in the November wins over Albania and Israel.

Paterson and Bournemouth’s Ryan Fraser were back in after being allowed to miss the opening qualifier under an agreement with their clubs over concerns about the artificial surface, while Andrew Robertson returned as captain after dental surgery. The right-back Stephen O’Donnell also came in along with Russell and McLean. James Forrest was among the players dropped.

Scotland started with verve and McLean came close with a fierce 20-yard volley before glancing home Fraser’s cross. But there was no lift-off as the tempo gradually eased.

Slackness remained evident in the visitors’ play and there was a scare on the half-hour mark when José Hirsch got in between Scotland’s centre-backs and went round Scott Bain; but he shot into the side netting from a difficult angle. Paterson went off injured after landing awkwardly as he had a header theatrically saved and Marc McNulty eventually took his place.

There was a lack of quality about Scotland’s final ball, evidenced by Russell and Fraser wasting free-kicks and the latter crossing straight out of the park, before the half-time whistle was met by a few boos.

There was another scare just after the restart when Filippo Berardi went down in the box under the attention of Scott McKenna but the referee was unimpressed.

McNulty then had a shot deflected wide but Scotland were labouring and the introduction of Scott McTominay for Callum McGregor did little to change things.

Forrest replaced Armstrong in the 71st minute and soon set up Russell on the break to score from close range. “It was disappointing on the night that we didn’t get more,” said the goalscorer afterwards.