It was around 2.28am in the UK that John McGinn ended 28, arguably 36, years of hurt – and anyone daft enough to be asleep will surely have stirred as chants of “no Scotland, no party” echoed from Boston to Glasgow.

The scenes after McGinn’s deflected goal and Scotland’s 1-0 defeat of Haiti were joyous. Sheer unbridled happiness. And relief.

Dead-of-night watch parties were held across Scotland, the biggest at the Ovo Hydro arena in Glasgow, where more than 5,000 fans celebrated Scotland’s first World Cup match since 1998.

When the final whistle blew, drinks went flying in the air and the noise raised the roof.

For neutrals, the match between the 42nd Fifa-ranked team (Scotland) and the 83rd (Haiti) was not a great footballing spectacle. It was a laboured, anxiety-inducing victory, but nobody cared. For Scotland, a win is a win.

“It was really good, but I think we could have done better,” said 12-year-old Darcy Morrison, who was watching in Glasgow with her mother and brother. “I thought we were going to beat them 4-0 but we didn’t.”