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Speaking ahead of the Euro 2008 away double header against Cyprus tomorrow and San Marino next Wednesday Tosh promised there would be no repeat of the shambles in Limassol.
"People will point to us losing 5-1 at home to Slovakia, but we played quite well for much of that game. They had one of those days where they had five shots and scored five goals," he said.
"Those other three performances, I readily accept, were not good enough. I suppose it's fair to say that, with such a young side, you do have those blips, you do lack consistency. But Cyprus, Ireland and Germany apart, I think we have done well with a young squad and we are not far from what we want to be.
"Some people criticised us for even taking that friendly match in Cyprus two years ago. But we learned so much from it, one being that they are a good team on their own patch. As well as beating us, they put five goals past the Republic of Ireland and drew with the Germans.
"But, whatever the standard of Cyprus' play, the simple fact is that we didn't do ourselves justice last time we were out there. I blame myself in the main for that. Perhaps I didn't prepare the team as well as I might have done. But the lessons everyone can learn from that game two years ago can hold us in good stead tomorrow, when there are qualifying points at stake.
"We are doing things differently in the build-up to this game and we will approach it differently once the match starts.
"Cyprus know full well themselves that we are a much better team than they saw out in Limassol. We proved that to them when we beat them 3-1 at the Millennium Stadium earlier in this campaign.
"That in itself was no mean feat because that game came just four days after Slovakia had hit us for five ... while the Cypriots themselves had put five past the Irish. But we have achieved terrific results in our last two away matches, in Bulgaria and Slovakia, where this time we put five goals on them.
"That, in itself, underlines how up and down this group has been, I suppose. It is imperative that we follow that last result by beating Cyprus this time and then going on to win in San Marino, too.
"If we can get six points from these back-to-back games, and then follow that by beating Ireland in the return match in Cardiff, we can realistically expect to finish third in the group.
"Considering the injury problems which have beset us throughout, and the unexpected loss through the international retirements of Ryan Giggs, Mark Delaney and John Hartson, I think a lot of people would look upon a third-place finish as a pretty commendable achievement. It would certainly enable us to finish on a high, after one or two of the lows we have inevitably had to go through with such a young team."