A heavily-rotated Scotland eventually eased past 10-man Curacao 4-1 in their final match on home soil before heading off to the 2026 World Cup.
New Rangers signing Lawrence Shankland netted a second-half double after his soon-to-be Ibrox team-mate Findlay Curtis scored his first international goal to equalise just before half-time following Curacao's shock opener, with Bournemouth's Ryan Christie adding a fourth late on from the penalty spot.
Steve Clarke's side fly out to the United States on Sunday to compete in the tournament for the first time since 1998 but are sweating on the fitness of Napoli midfielder Billy Gilmour who walked off injured in the first half.
John McGinn, Scott McTominay, Lewis Ferguson, Kieran Tierney and Che Adams were given extra rest after playing for their clubs last weekend while Southampton striker Ross Stewart was managing a knee injury.
Curacao, who are managed by 78-year-old former Rangers boss Dick Advocaat, are ranked 82nd in the world and will become the smallest nation in history to compete at the World Cup with a population of around 150,000.
They are ranked one place higher than Haiti - who Scotland face in their opening group game in Boston on June 14 before matches against top 10 sides Morocco and Brazil.
A winning Hampden send-off
The visitors deservedly took the lead after 21 minutes when Sheffield United's Tahith Chong took the ball down on the halfway line before chopping inside John Souttar and reversing it in off the post from the edge of the box.
Scotland struggled to find their rhythm until they were handed a numerical advantage in the 38th minute when Curacao striker Jurgen Locadio was sent off for a late elbow on Aaron Hickey.
However, Hampden gasped two minutes later as Gilmour went down clutching his knee after playing an unopposed 10-yard pass. The Napoli man was withdrawn and replaced by 19-year-old Curtis who made an immediate impact with his first and second touches.
The first to set himself, the second to dispatch a low left-footed effort into the far corner for his first goal for his country.
A rejuvenated Scotland returned for the second period as Shankland got his first of the afternoon just before the hour mark from a well-worked training ground set-piece.
He then bagged his sixth international goal four minutes later after combining well with strike partner Lyndon Dykes before firing into the far corner.
Teenager Curtis continued to impress off the left and provided the Scots their fourth and final goal when he was brought down in the box by Sherel Floranus.
Shankland was already withdrawn so could not complete his hat-trick, but Christie stepped up to score his 10th international goal.
Clarke: Red card changed the dynamic of the game
Scotland boss Steve Clarke:
"I think the scoreline is a poor reflection on Curacao, I thought they were good in the game - 11 versus 11 they were the better team. We huffed and puffed a little bit; it took us time to build into the game. Obviously, we had a patchy week in terms of build-up. I'm not saying the team was thrown together but it was a little bit late in the week before we actually had a chance to work on it.
"The red card obviously changes the whole dynamic of the game and from there, at least, against the 10 we managed to start creating chances and got a few goals. It is obviously nice to win any international game, but I think it would have been better if it stayed 11 vs 11 and then we'd have been asked more questions about finding the spaces on the pitch - could we create the chances that we created against 10 men against 11? That would have been a better exercise for us.
"Hopefully in the second half you got a little glimpse as to why I signed a four-year contract because some of the young boys who came into the game were really good. Findlay [Curtis] came on and obviously got his goal. Tyler [Fletcher] showed second half that he has the capability to be a big player for us in the future. Young James [Wilson] came on and does what he does, buzzes around, so some good things on that."
Advocaat: Curacao did well before red card
Curacao manager Dick Advocaat:
"Until the moment that Jurgen Locadia was sent off we really did well against a good Scotland team so after that I have seen a lot of good things, but with 10 men it was going to be difficult.
"Plus, the fact that they scored to make it 1-1 almost at half-time. If you go in with a 1-0 lead at half-time then it is a little bit easier to accept that. In the second half we had to defend and try to keep the score low but what we saw in the first half, it was quite optimistic. We learned a lot."
On Locadia's red card:
"If you are a good referee, you say 'take the player out and bring someone else in'. Now we have to wait and see what will happen for the World Cup. So that makes it a little bit difficult."
