Old Firm experience with Celtic helping Gordon Strachan thrive as Scotland manager, says Walter Smith Gordon's been at Middlesbrough and now he's back in. Sometimes in life it doesn't turn out the way you'd hoped but then you get another chance and it works out all right for you. You can use those experiences to help you out. You have added determination on a personal basis because you want to show you can be successful and then you get the opportunity to prove that. Gordon's doing it now and I don't think anyone could do a better job. I just hope results go with us for a change. We are not a country that has enjoyed a lot of luck, even with the other games in our sections. They haven't always gone for us but, hopefully, they will do this time and we can do well. It's not the easiest job to do. You don't have a lot of time with your players but having managed an Old Firm team helps. It helps with dealing with the intense media demands and with handling the players. It's an important factor. But the biggest thing that helps is having a group of players who can do the business for you. And it's then about getting them together and organising. I hope that when people look back on my time as Scotland manager they would say there was an improvement - and we are seeing that with Gordon, too. Having said that, Smith believes that victory will be vital against the Republic of Ireland on Friday if the momentum Strachan has generated is to be maintained. "We seem to be going through a roller-coaster but everyone will be pleased how the team is doing at the present moment," he said. He's had three or four games when he brought in other players and he's settled everything down and I think they are really good. I thought Scotland were very impressive against Georgia. They look like they've got a bit of confidence about them. The only disappointing thing was they never scored the goals they maybe should have to make it more comfortable for them towards the end of the game. In saying that, home games can sometimes be the most awkward but Scotland look like they are coping with that. We have as good an opportunity to go on and qualify as we have in any tournament recently. I think Gordon has to take the majority of credit for that because of where we were and where we now look like we can go. If you look at the Republic and Poland, I think they are similar standards of teams to ourselves. The results between each other, especially at home, will be the biggest factor in the group. The game at Celtic Park against Ireland will be a big one for Scotland going into the other stages of the qualification section. But, for the first time in a long time we can look forward with confidence. Performances over the past four or five games are steady. There's a good balance of attacking and defending. When I was in charge we had to be either defensive or attacking. There was a bigger gap between the two. But there's a better balance in the team now and Gordon deserves the credit for putting that together.