Wednesday night's 1-0 defeat to Argentina represented the Tottenham full-back's first international appearance since the 1-1 draw with Croatia back in March in George Burley's first game in charge.

Hutton returned to the Tottenham side last month, after suffering a broken foot in the summer, and was thrilled to also end his enforced exile from the national team.

"It's really good to back," he said. "It wasn't a great result but we can take a lot of positives from the game.

"I'm getting there. I've been out for a long time and it's taken time to get back into it but I'm definitely getting there.

"It's hard being out. I want to be there doing my bit for the team and it's tough just sitting watching for both club and country.

"But I'm just glad to be back and hopefully I can do my best from now on."

Scotland must have feared the worst when Maxi Rodriguez fired Argentina ahead after just eight minutes as the South Americans dominated the opening spell of the game at Hampden.

But there was no humiliating thrashing in store for Burley's men as Diego Maradona settled for a narrow 1-0 victory in his first game in charge.

Hutton believes the Scots are due credit for containing some of the best players in the world for large chunks of the game.

"They are a world-class team and they kind of blew us away in the first 15 minutes or so," he said.

"But I think we showed our determination in the rest of the game and we did a lot better.

"I think we can compete with any team in the world. We have a lot of desire and passion in the team so that's not an issue.

"Other than the start of the game, we did well."

Hutton now hopes Scotland can take the positives from the clash with Argentina into a vital World Cup qualifier against Group 9 favourites Holland in Amsterdam in March.

He said: "It's really good preparation. The Dutch will be a quality side as well and that was a good test for everybody, that's pretty much what it's going to be like when we play in Holland.

"The Dutch are going to be very attacking and we will look at that closer to the time.

"Overall, we are closing down and willing to work for each other and that's what we will have to do in that game."

Despite the defeat, defender Gary Caldwell saw enough positives against the Argentinians to suggest Scotland are good enough to qualify for South Africa in 2010.

He said: "They scored an early goal which is always hard to take and we had to dig in, which we did. We stuck together when a lot of teams would have folded.

"It was a long night and they showed what a good team they are. But we had the belief and the togetherness.

"We were playing a top side but we didn't let them run over the top of us the way other teams might have.

"We have to still believe that with a bit of belief and quality we can still qualify from the group that we're in.

"We know we can do better and we know we need to improve.

"But we have something to build on now and hopefully we can build on it for March."