George Burley had better start adopting that state of mind that has been doggedly road-tested to the satisfaction of a number of Scotland managers down the years – that’s to say, optimism in the face of adversity.

This setback in Skopje on Saturday was not the start Burley wanted in group nine of the World Cup qualifiers and the sniping will break out big-time if the Scotland manager can’t successfully grab three points with his players against Iceland in Reykjavik on Wednesday night.

It was a bad day all round for the Tartan Army in the Balkan peninsula. Around 800 of them even failed to get into the game, having their entrance barred by an overofficious Skopje chief of police, despite most of them having legitimate tickets for the match. That was an aggravation in itself for the SFA, let alone the way Burley’s men failed to claw back Ilcho Naumoski’s opening goal after six minutes that immediately had the visitors on the rack.

Given the relative poverty of Scotland’s resources, there tends to be a certain stoicism and understanding shown towards the office of the poor, benighted team manager at Hampden Park, yet it was noticeable on the flight back from Macedonia on Saturday evening that certain media sparks were beginning to fly. Burley needs to start showing progress with his team, and show it quickly.

He is becoming a strange case as Scotland manager. He has attracted his doubters scarcely before a competitive ball has been kicked, something not helped by the fact that, in three friendlies and now this opening qualifier, Burley has gone four games in charge without a win.

A capacity for the odd verbal gaffe – whether it is in referring to “James Fadden” instead of James McFadden or “Darren Ferguson” instead of Darren Fletcher – has only egged on those who are already finding him an unconvincing figure.

At this stage of proceedings – having played and lost his first competitive game – any bawling over Burley’s future sounds absurd. Let’s see what occurs in Reykjavik on Wednesday night, and then against Norway at Hampden next month, before we start ordering the timber for the gallows. But the truth is, Burley makes life hard for himself when he is less than judicious in some of his language.

He described Macedonia, a patently average team, as “exceptional” before Saturday’s game, and then said that his side’s second-half play in Skopje had been “outstanding” when, in fact, it had been fairly decent but nothing more. Such casual hyperbole only makes some query the manager’s grasp of reality.

Yet Burley should at least receive some credit for the way, having lost such an early goal to Naumoski, he tried to be pro-active in retrieving the situation for Scotland. There was no hanging around being bedevilled by indecision when, from around the 65th minute, he introduced a raft of substitutions – Kris Commons, Shaun Maloney and Kris Boyd – to try to force an equaliser. Burley’s decision-making in that period looked sure and bold and, having converted Scotland to a 4-2-4 for the final 20 minutes of the game, the visitors probably deserved an equaliser.

Retrospective bleating over penalties never did anyone any good, though Scotland did have two good claims within seconds when, first, Kenny Miller and then McFadden were felled in the box, the latter by Petar Milosevski, the Macedonia goalkeeper, who appeared to trip the Scotland striker. Later, Burley looked slightly pained in being forced to praise Pavel Kralovec, the Czech referee, for having a good game, knowing that the official had denied his team these penalty shouts.

“We lost a bad early goal but I thought we were outstanding in the second half,” the Scotland manager, bordering on a lack of perspective, said.

Scotland remain spooked by the usual international mysteries. Years ago it was often lamented that Kenny Dalglish could not reproduced his club form in the international arena, and in players like Scott Brown and Fletcher we may be witnessing the same syndrome. Fletcher, in particular, has qualities that Sir Alex Ferguson is prone to rave about and has started the season brightly with Manchester United, yet could not seem to get a forceful foothold in this match and was wasteful with the ball. Brown, admittedly, was playing wide on the right, a disliked position, out of necessity, but he too did not play like a £4.5 million midfield player.

The one caveat in all of this was the Skopje heat. Out on the pitch the sun was merciless and the players were begging for water at every throw-in.

Both Brown and Maloney had shots that were fisted away by Milosevski, and Fletcher, quite unfathomably, failed to connect with a header from Gary Naysmith’s cross when he was six yards out with the goal gaping.

All this and more was evidence of Scotland’s renewed second-half effort, in stifling heat, although this must be set against Craig Gordon twice having to rescue his side with two marvellous saves. Gary Caldwell, an often disparaged centre-back, also made some timely interventions, none more so than when he made up improbable ground to lunge at Goran Maznov and block the striker as he was about to shoot.

The afternoon remained scarred for the Scots by their miserable start. Kralovec awarded a soft free kick – “It just wasn’t one,” Burley said afterwards – when Stephen McManus got in the way of Maznov as he bore through on goal. Gordon managed to get a hand to Goce Sedloski’s free kick and touch it on to the post, but Naumoski was first to the rebound to ram the ball home. It made for a long afternoon ahead, in which Scotland and their supporters were reacquainted with a familiar form of suffering.

Iceland showed they might have a big say in the outcome of group nine as Norway made a stuttering start to their bid to qualify for the World Cup with a 2-2 draw in Oslo. Iceland are next up for Scotland on Wednesday.

Steffen Iversen, the former Tottenham Hotspur and Wolverhampton Wanderers striker scored twice for Norway but the home side were pegged back by Iceland and had to settle for a point in the group.

Iceland were ranked the weakest team in the group according to Fifa’s seedings at the draw for the qualifiers last November. But they showed they would be no pushovers, even though it looked good for Norway when Iversen – now at Rosenborg – put the hosts ahead from the penalty spot in the 36th minute after Gretar Rafn Steinsson brought down Thorstein Helstad in the box. The lead was shortlived, as Heidar Helguson, of Bolton Wanderers equalised three minutes later when he headed home from Emil Hallfredsson’s cross.

Iversen scored his second goal five minutes after half-time when he out-jumped Bjarni Olafur Eiriksson to nod in Fredrik Winsnes’ pinpoint cross, but Eidur Gudjohnsen, the former Chelsea player, scored a stunning equaliser in the 69th minute. The Barcelona forward curled a 25-yard free kick past Rune Jarstein in the Norway goal to earn Iceland a share of the spoils.

Veigar Pall Gunnarsson could have snatched victory for Norway but his 86th-minute strike from outside the box crashed back off a post. (PA)

Scotland ratings

4-4-1-1

Average rating 6.8

Craig Gordon Sunderland 6 Graham Alexander Burnley 7 Gary Caldwell Celtic 5 Stephen McManus Celtic 6 Gary Naysmith Sheffield United 5 Scott Brown Celtic 5 Darren Fletcher Manchester United 6 Paul Hartley Celtic 5 Barry Robson Celtic 7 James McFadden Birmingham City 6 Kenny Miller Rangers

Substitutions Kris Commons (Derby County) for Hartley, 65min 7 Shaun Maloney (Celtic) for Robson 75 7 Kris Boyd (Rangers) for Miller 80 4

Substitutes not used: Allan McGregor (Rangers), Kirk Broadfoot (Rangers), Michael Stewart (Heart of Midlothian), Christophe Berra (Heart of Midlothian). Booked: McFadden.

Macedonia (3-4-3): P Milosevski 6 – G Sedloski 7, I Mitreski 5, N Noveski 6 – V Lazarevski 6, V Shumolikoski 7, V Grozdanoski 5, R Petrov 6 (sub: B Grncarov, 77min) – G Maznov 7, G Pandev 6 (sub: D Tasevski, 82), I Naumoski 7 (sub: V Trajanov, 68 4). Substitutes not used: T Pachovski, A Polozhani, E Demiri, V Trajanov, S Ristikj. Booked: Shumolikoski, Pandev.

Referee: P Kralovec (Czech Republic) Attendance: 10,000