THE friendship and solidarity with Ukraine was only supposed to last up until the first whistle. But in Scotland, the impressive visitors found the most genial of hosts to usher them a step closer to the World Cup.
Across the world, their victory here will have been welcomed, and on the balance of play, there is nobody who could possibly grudge them it. But that doesn’t mean the Tartan Army have to like it.
It had been billed as an intensely emotional night at Hampden, and that it certainly was in the build-up to the game, with the Ukrainian flag dotted around the stadium and the few thousand away supporters being roundly applauded after a cathartic rendition of their national anthem.
The home crowd signalled though that their bonhomie was restricted solely to the pre-match in their minds though, and in fact, it didn’t even last until the game got underway, with the Ukrainian players roundly booed as they took a pre-match huddle.
The feeling was clearly mutual on the field, Ukrainian striker Roman Yaremchuk barrelling through Billy Gilmour from behind long after he had played his pass to pick up the first booking just five minutes in.
It wasn’t in the possession of greater fight that this game was won though, but rather in who had the greater finesse.
Scotland knew they would have to match the passion and the will to win of the Ukrainians, but in actual fact, it was the visitor’s ability to keep their heads while every Scotsman on the pitch seemed to be losing theirs that would turn out to be the decisive factor.
Tactically too, it has to be said, Ukraine coach Olesandr Zubkov got his plan spot on, nullifying the Scottish threat for the most part and ruthlessly exposing the weaknesses in Steve Clarke’s own set-up.
Ukraine pressed high out of possession leaving the Scots struggling to put two passes together, while they found space and passed the ball far better than the hosts whenever they had it. They had a clear gameplan to exploit the spaces left behind the Scottish wing-backs, and time and time again in the first half they made hay in those gaps.
In fact, if it hadn’t been for the brilliance of Craig Gordon in goal, the contest would have been over within the opening half an hour.
There was an ominous sign of things to come as Ukraine got the first effort of the game on target, Gordon brilliantly tipping over from Viktor Tsyganov. He would better it with a point-blank stop from Andriy Yarmolenko after Scotland were taken apart down their right – a common theme of the first 45.
By now though the pattern of the game was set. The visitors, who may have been excused for allowing their emotions to boil over, were instead the ones in total control. They zipped the ball around with a purpose and were rarely hurried, while the Scottish players looked harassed and unsure whenever the ball was at their feet.
It was a matter of time before Ukraine eventually picked Scotland off. But even so, it was a criminal goal from a Scottish perspective. Ruslan Malinovsky – who was running the show along Taras Stepanenko in the middle of the park - was given all the time in the world to simply lift a long ball over the top for Yarmolenko to latch onto.
With Gordon committed, this time there was nothing he could do but watch the striker’s lob sail over him and into the net.
Something had to change for the Scots, and the first place it did was in their personnel, Ryan Christie coming on for the ineffectual Lyndon Dykes at the break as Clarke reverted to the 3-4-2-1 that had brought success in the past.
Here, it failed to immediately change anything materially, and the Ukrainians got the second goal they deserved early in the half to suck the life out of the national stadium. Again, the Scots contributed to their own downfall though, Andy Robertson failing to get tight to his man and an uncontested cross finding Yaremchuk free at the back post to nod home.
Scotland needed a miracle, and they almost got it as the Ukrainians dithered, goalkeeper Georgiy Buschan clearly feeling the weight of the occasion as he started to make blunder after blunder. He was shut down by Callum McGregor and his clearance fortuitously bouncing off the midfielder and just over the bar, before he handed Scotland the lifeline they were desperate for.
Scott McTominay got in behind on the right and fired the ball across goal. Buschan fumbled and the ball sat up for John McGinn to head home. Except somehow he didn’t. The Scotland talisman inexplicably headed wide with Scotland’s life-belt there to be snatched.
But Buschan wasn’t done there, and remarkably fumbled at a high Stuart Armstrong cross to dolly the ball to McGregor, who forced it towards the empty goal. Stepenenko stretched to clear, but it was too late, and belatedly Hampden had lift-off.
The home support was almost immediately brought back down to earth with a bump mind you as Artem Dovbyk ran through on Gordon, but McGregor made just as vital a contribution at the other end as he somehow scarpered back to get a toe in and keep hopes of an unlikely comeback alive.
For all the high balls into the box and the huffing and puffing though, Scotland couldn’t create another opening, and Dovbyk wasn’t about to let them off the hook a second time, beating the offside trap once more to put the tin lid on it with the last kick of the game.
Ukraine deserved it. But for no other reason than they were by far and away the better football team on the night.
