Jane Ross knows only too well how tough qualifying for the World Cup can be for a European nation and, as the striker recalls with obvious relief, Scotland’s passage to France hinged on the finest of margins.

Only finishing top of a five-team group confirmed safe passage. Finish second and the best four went into play-offs for the eighth available spot. That it was the 2017 European champions, the Netherlands, who scraped through to France in that manner makes Scotland’s automatic qualification for their first World Cup all the more impressive.

On the final day of qualifying, Scotland were neck and neck with Switzerland in Group 2, dropping points only against each other. The Swiss had a superior goal difference, leaving Scotland needing to score six more against Albania should they remain level on points.

“It wasn’t in our own hands,” Ross says. “It was technically in Switzerland’s hands.

“For us players that were on the pitch in the game, we didn’t realise the score in the Switzerland game. So it wasn’t until the final whistle went and all the subs and staff ran on to the pitch celebrating that we realised that, OK, we’ve qualified for the World Cup.

“We were anticipating that we would likely have to go through a play-off. But to directly go through as group winners was an amazing feeling.”

The Scots put themselves ahead early on. Kim Little, the Arsenal midfielder, who cruelly missed out on Scotland’s first Euros in 2017 with a cruciate ligament injury, struck inside nine minutes. Against the run of play, Doci caught the Scottish defence napping to level the qualifier on the stroke of half‑time.

With Switzerland being held in Poland there was still hope. In the 68th minute, Ross headed in the winner from a free-kick. “We knew that we just had to win the game. And that was all we could control. We done that. And, yeah, as they say, the rest is history,” she says.

At 29, the striker, born on the Isle of Bute, is one of the more experienced Scottish players travelling to France. After 104 goals in 118 games with SWPL’s dominant Glasgow City she joined the Swedish side Vittsjö, then spent three years at Manchester City before moving to West Ham, helping Matt Beard’s side to a Wembley FA Cup final in their first WSL season.

Jane Ross in action during the Women’s FA Cup final. Photograph: Jonny Weeks/The Guardian

She is also one of the players who made the trip to the Netherlands in 2017, but a shoulder injury in their crushing 6-0 loss to England added her to the swollen list of sidelined players.

“We were missing a number of key players,” says Ross. “But the players that were selected to go were of a good enough standard. It could have been different had it been a full-strength squad, but it is what it is. For the players that were selected, we’ve gained experience from being to a major tournament and being there. To now add the players that were missing to the squad then it’s only going to be stronger.”

Seven members of the 23-player squad are part-time. They have benefited from Scottish government funding to be able to train full-time before the World Cup and Scottish women’s football is heading in the right direction. With Hibernian and Glasgow City leading the way, the increased investment of Rangers and the professionalism of Celtic are signs of positive change. For that reason, Ross was not worried that their poor showing at the 2017 Euros could have been their first and last shot at a major tournament.

“Football in Scotland is on the rise, for sure,” she says. “There’s more players now playing professionally and doing it full-time and that’s upping the quality and upping the pool of players for the national team coach to select from, which is helping the game grow.”

A strong finish, after three losses between January and March, was almost scuppered by Jamaica’s Khadija Shaw, who scored twice in front of a record crowd at Hampden, but Sophie Howard’s second-half effort ensured a 3-2 victory for the home side. That victory came on the back of an impressive 1-0 defeat of Brazil, Little scoring the winner, in what Ross describes as a “big confidence boost”.

“We’ve had a bit of a mix of results since we started playing our friendly matches at the beginning of the year. But every camp we’ve been learning and growing. Shelley Kerr’s changed up a bit and tried different players and different formations at times.”

When Scotland were drawn in Group D alongside England it almost felt a set-up: “I had a feeling we were going to draw England,” says Ross, but it has not put them off their mission. “We’ve got three difficult matches, but the goal that we set is to get out of the group,” she says.

“When it comes down to tournament football anything can happen. It’s the usual cliche of taking it one game at a time. And so our first focus will be on the England match. We believe we can get something from that game.

“We have the experience now of a major tournament. We’re all older with two years more experience and playing under our belts. We’re feeling good as a group, and hopefully going into the tournament with confidence.”