Heartbroken Billy Gilmour admits he’s still trying to work out what went wrong at Hampden as Scotland’s date with destiny ended in disaster.
The young Chelsea star had dreams of starring in the desert sun this winter.
But he’ll now be left to watch the World Cup action in Qatar from his sofa after Steve Clarke’s side were swept aside by a Ukraine side riding on a wave of emotion.
The cards were supposed to be stacked against Oleksandr Petrakov's men, with their preparations thrown into chaos by the armed conflict sweeping through their homeland.
Decamped to Slovenia, their preparations were limited to three friendly clashes against club sides Borussia Monchengladbach, Empoli and Rijeka as they geared up for the game of their lives.
Yet it was Scotland who fell apart at the worst possible time as they saw their qualification hopes slip down the slopes of Mount Florida.
Asked what went wrong, 20-year-old Gilmour said: “To be honest I really don’t know. I’m still trying to figure it out myself.
“It’s a tough one to take right now, we were just not at it. It felt like that.
“We had glimpses in the game when we got the foot on the ball and started to play, but it just wasn’t to be.
“Of course we’re all disappointed. We wanted to go the World Cup and we want to go the Euros.
“That’s the next step, we’ve got to look forward to the Euros and that’s where we want to be.
“Did the occasion get to us? No I don’t think it was that. We knew what we needed to do, we had to come here and turn up, but on the night we just didn’t perform to our best.
“No, Ukraine definitely didn’t surprise us. We knew they were a good team, we analysed them and you can see that they’ve got good players.
“They were the better team on the night.”
Ukraine still have one final step to take before they can book their own ticket to December’s global showpiece.
They now travel south to Cardiff for a winner-takes-all shoot-out with Robert Page’s Wales.
It was a clash Gilmour was hoping would involve Scotland.
Now, he admits he’ll struggle just to tune in to without suffering pangs of regret.
He said: “Yeah, it’s disappointing, a tough one.
“It’s one of the lows of my career so far and I don’t want to feel like this again.
“Hopefully next time it will be different”
“I’ll watch the game but I’m just going to be disappointed it’s not us.”
A difficult season for Gilmour has taken another bitter turn.
He spent the season on loan at Norwich but had to endure being booed as the Carrow Road support turned on him during a defeat to Crystal Palace back in December.
Things didn’t get much better though as Dean Smith’s side were eventually relegated from the Premier League with four games to spare.
If that was not sore enough, there’s now the agony of another failed World Cup campaign for a nation that has spent 24 years locked out of the biggest show on earth.
It’s a lot to take for one so young but Gilmour has vowed to use the hurt of his wretched campaign as fuel to inspire Scotland to future glories.
There won’t be long to mull over the frustrations, however, with Armenia in town next Wednesday for the start of this year’s Nations League campaign - a tournament that could offer a back door to Euro 2024 and a shot at redemption after last night’s failure.
Gilmour added: “Yeah it’s been a tough season personally, but a lot of experience made.
“We’ll just see what happens next season, I’ll try to kick on.
“It’s definitely a tough one to take. We’ve been preparing for this moment and it wasn’t to be.
“I don’t think we performed as well as we should have as a team.
“We’ve come this far, and now we need to focus on the next campaign.
“We’ve got a great team spirit here. Of course, tonight we’re going to be gutted, we’re all gutted and the changing room is quiet.
“We need to pick ourselves up, we’ve got a good bunch of boys out there, good players, and we want to do well for Scotland.”
“We need to use this as fuel. I think that’s what we’re all going to take into the next games coming up.
“We need to show that we aren’t just going to be at one tournament, we’re going to be competing in all of them.
“Will we be better for the experience? We’ll see in the long run. Hopefully.”
