SCOTLAND’S women’s team flew into Venice last night determined to put the memory of Thursday’s 4-0 defeat to Norway behind them and get their Euro 2017 qualifying campaign off to a positive start.

The squad travelled by bus from Italy to the town of Nova Gorica in Slovenia, and will play their first group game in nearby Ajdovscina on Tuesday. It is the first of a series of winding, but from a playing perspective undemanding, journeys which should lead to the finals in the Netherlands in 2017.

As well as Slovenia, who are 64th in the Fifa rankings, Scotland (20) have Belarus (49), Macedonia (117) and top seeds Iceland (18) in Group 1. With the top two nations almost certain to qualify for Holland, Anna Signeul’s side have never had a better opportunity to qualify for their first major finals.

“When we got this draw, which we all think is a good one for Scotland and a great opportunity, our biggest enemy is to be complacent,” Signeul admitted. “In that sense, while it is always disappointing to lose a game by four goals, being beaten by Norway has helped the focus on our task. We will not be going into Tuesday’s game thinking we have won it. We can’t wait to play Slovenia now, because when you lose, you want the next game immediately.”

The consolation for Signeul and her players as they prepare for the group is that not even Iceland will provide opposition of Norway’s calibre. Thursday night’s winners, who despite opening the scoring lost 2-1 to England in the last 16 of this summer’s World Cup in Canada, are ranked 10th in the world, are former winners of the global tournament and also scooped the 2000 Olympic Games title in Sydney.

Signeul was forced to leave two of her best players – Kim Little and Rachel Corsie – on the bench at Firhill because they had played a demanding National Women’s Soccer League match for their club, Seattle Reign, in America on Sunday night. Two first-choice defenders, Ifeoma Dieke and Emma Mitchell, were also omitted because of injury concerns.

Little, Corsie and probably Dieke, will all return for the game against Slovenia. The hosts have a young side and have lost 10 of their last 12 matches, a dismal sequence which began with a 13-0 home thrashing by Germany in a World Cup qualifier. That embarrassing scoreline, however, was untypical and Denise O’Sullivan, the Glasgow City attacking midfielder, recalls a team who, while limited, were no mugs.

O’Sullivan’s Republic of Ireland were in the same World Cup qualifying group, winning 3-0 in Slovenia and 2-0 at home.

“They are a physical side,” the City player said. “We played well against them over there, but Scotland are much better than Slovenia, there’s no question.”