Craig Levein has branded talk that he would have been sacked had Scotland failed to beat Liechtenstein as "stupid".

In just Levein's second competitive game in charge, Scotland put in a dire performance against the minnows at Hampden Park and had to rely on a 97th-minute winner from Stephen McManus to save face and earn a 2-1 victory.

The win left Scotland top of Group I with four points from their two games and in a much stronger position than had they failed to beat the team 100 places below them in the Fifa rankings.

Despite the win masking what was a disappointing evening in Glasgow, Levein is remaining in bullish mood, insisting he would not have been dismissed if McManus' late header had not gone in.

"That's just stupid talk. That thought never entered my head," he told The Times.

"It was only my second competitive game in charge so it is stupid for anyone to talk like that.

"Of course I would have been gutted if we hadn't got the three points, but we did. Yes, it was dramatic, but it doesn't matter to me if we score in the 60th minute or in the 95th minute. We won the game.

"It's a nonsense. How could Scotland possibly make any progress if sacking the manager was going on after any setback?

"What I am trying to do is build something here, with a philosophy that the players will buy into and as things stand in our group, we are looking OK."