When your luck is out, it is out alright. Scotland slipped to yet another defeat as they went down to Croatia in Zagreb, but it was in the cruellest of circumstances, as a last-gasp equaliser was ruled out for offside deep into stoppage time.
The Scots battled right to the end, and thought they had got their reward as Kristijan Jakic diverted the ball into his own net with the last kick of the game. A VAR review though showed that Che Adams - who Jakic had tackled - had strayed just offside, and it was heartbreak yet again for the luckless Scots.
In the end, it was rather the same old story yet again for the national side, as a good overall performance ultimately yielded no reward.
Just as they did in Lisbon last time out, Scotland took the lead on their travels, but were ultimately pegged back, with a lack of quality in both boxes costing them dearly.
It was a good showing in the first half especially, with the only disappointment being that after taking the lead, they could only stay there for 203 seconds.
The opening goal had a touch of fortune about it, but it was also a reward for putting together another well-constructed attack, one of several in the first 45 after Scotland settled into the contest.
Scott McTominay fed the impressive Ben Doak on the right as the Scots countered, but the youngster appeared to have made a bit of a meal of his cross, only for the Croatian midfielder Luka Sucic to make an almighty hash of his attempted clearance, slicing the ball wildly behind him.
Ryan Christie was waiting to pounce, and he finished well under the body of Dominik Livakovic.
Having kept the Croatians at arm’s length to that stage, it will have been a huge disappointment for Steve Clarke and his men to immediately be pegged back, but a delightful cross-field pass from Josko Gvardiol and a brilliant touch from Ivan Perisic was enough to carve his backline open.
Igor Matanovic strode onto the ball and lashed it low past Craig Gordon through a ruck of despairing Scottish bodies.
The game became stretched in the second half, and it was the hosts who seized the advantage and the three points as Andrej Kramaric headed home the rebound after Gordon had parried a stinging volley.
The Scots gamely fought to the last whistle, but the disallowed equaliser put the tin lid on another disappointing evening.
Here are the talking points from the Stadion Maksimir…
THE POOR RUN GOES ON AND ON
The Tartan Army always knew that the step up to Nations League Group A was going to be tough, and there have certainly been some harsh lessons dished out so far.
There has been some really good stuff from Scotland over these last three games, and many more reasons to be positive than could be salvaged from the insipid showings at the Euros, but the longer run of form makes for some pretty grim reading.
It is now just one win in 15 games for the national side, which - as we must always point out - came in a friendly against Gibraltar that was, in truth, a bit of a struggle. And it is now seven games since that evening in Faro.
There is absolutely no doubt that there has been an improvement in the performance levels of late, but a propensity for losing cheap goals and a failure to make the most of their opportunities at the other end is costing Scotland dearly against opponents at this level.
DOAK IMPRESSES ON FULL DEBUT
Scotland manager Clarke finally granted the Tartan Army their long-held wish by handing the exciting 18-year-old his first start for his country, and after a quiet opening, he showed just why the fans were so keen to see him in the dark blue. Or in this case, sky blue. I think.
Anyway, whatever the colour of the jersey, Doak soon showed that the weight of it wouldn’t be too much for him to bear.
He first threatened as he nicked the ball from Gvardiol after an uncharacteristic error from the Manchester City defender. It looked a promising opening for the Scots, but his cutback was snuffed out by Modric.
There were further flashes of his ability as he skinned Mario Pasalic, forcing his opponent to wipe him out and pick up a booking, before he blasted away from Gvardiol but just couldn’t quite find Lyndon Dykes.
That was rather the story of his evening, with some really promising moments, but that final bit of quality we all know he possesses just eluding him. His pace though gave Scotland a vital out ball, and more than that, his ball carrying ability relieved pressure in difficult moments. A reason to be cheerful.
GORDON STILL RELIABLE
Very much at the other end of the age-scale was veteran keeper Gordon, who earned his 76th cap at the age of 41 after seemingly waving goodbye to the Tartan Army after the friendly against Finland at Hampden.
The Hearts keeper refused to go quietly into the sunset though, and has not only fought his way back into the starting XI with his club, but may well do so for his country too even after the injury to Angus Gunn that pressed him into service here has cleared.
The fact he is still being called upon in such situations is testament to his ability and resilience, but could also of course be viewed as an alarming indictment of the younger generation coming up behind him.
That is a topic for another day though. Here, Gordon showed that there is some life in the old dog yet.
FAILURE TO TAKE CHANCES KILLING SCOTS
While Scotland will be heartbroken by the way the match ended, they probably should have been level well before that in any case, and would have been if they hadn’t spurned some wonderful opportunities.
Goalscorer Christie spurned a brilliant chance to double his tally when he raced through on Livakovic and opened up his body to finish, only for the ball to come off his toe and skew wide of the target, while substitute Adams dinked one over the keeper late on that just fell the wrong side of the far post.
We all know the issues that Scotland have in the attacking department, and a lack of a clinical edge would again prove costly.
LACK OF DEPTH LAID BARE
In fairness to Clarke, he was carrying an inexperienced bench into this fixture after a host of injury call-offs, while both Adams and Ryan Gauld had been struggling with an illness and an injury respectively during the week.
Perhaps that was why he waited so long before throwing them into the action when a number of his men were visibly wilting, and only threw them on after the Croatians had taken advantage of the game becoming so stretched.
These same players will have to go again though when Portugal come to Hampden on Tuesday night. It certainly doesn’t get any easier for Clarke and his men.
