In the fullness of time Ryan Christie will be able to look back on what he’s achieved this year with pride and satisfaction.
But right now, with the wounds inflicted by yet another Scottish hard-luck story still so fresh, there’s no time for patting himself on the back.
Christie rolled the dice when he opted to leave Celtic for Bournemouth last summer, giving up the chance to play a part in Ange Postecoglou’s Parkhead rebuild as he took his chances in the English Championship.
But the gamble has paid off with the Cherries on their way to the Premier League.
The 27-year-old will fulfil a major ambition as joins the list of elite stars plying their trade in the top division down south.
But as one door opens to the promised land, another one has slammed shut and Christie is now facing up to the harsh reality that this winter’s World Cup is out of reach after Wednesday’s crushing Ukraine defeat left Scotland once again locked out and looking on as the big boys prepare to get down to business.
Asked if he could take consolation from his club achievements, he said: “I’m sure maybe in a couple of days I’ll step back and look at it like that but it’s still pretty raw right now.
“The main thing about this summer and this camp, it was the chance to go and achieve something special.
“Especially at Hampden, it’s a tough one to take as everybody wanted to reach that next milestone.
“The gaffer has said to us after the game it’s about how we react to this.
“It’s a tough one to take. I think all the boys are just frustrated because you wait so long for this game to come around and we were so desperate to go and make history again and we’ve fallen at the first hurdle. It hurts.
“I don’t think there was anxiety because of what it meant. Everyone was really excited to be back at Hampden especially after the last few results we’ve had here.
“When we came out of the tunnel the atmosphere was electric again. It’s just frustrating because all the boys know that we didn’t really represent ourselves as well as we know we could.”
Hampden was awash with emotion from the second the Ukraine players emerged into the golden early evening sunshine draped in their national flag.
Their comrades back home are fighting for their very right to exist as a nation in the face of Vladimir Putin’s naked aggression.
And their footballing representatives players mirrored the national spirit that is proving so hard for the Russian forces to quell as they sought to offer a beacon of hope to those putting their lives on the line at home.
But Steve Clarke’s team had a purpose too.
Christie was just three when the Scots last reached a World Cup and here was a chance to end that long stint in the wilderness.
But while Ukraine - inspired by Manchester City’s Oleksandr Zinchenko - rose to the occasion, Clarke’s side lost grip of the steely traits that had been key in making sure they had made it this far.
Christie said: “Aside from everything that’s been going on with them, the baseline is that they are a very good side. We had to be a the top of our game if we wanted to beat them and we weren’t at that.
“Listen we knew it was going to be an emotional game for them. But credit to them for taking the emotion out of it.
“Especially at times in the first half you saw how good they were, cutting through us.
“That’s something that we’ll be frustrated with because that’s something we’ve prided ourselves on. Our defensive shape is probably one of those things that’s got us this far in the last 18 months. It’s a tough one to take and everyone will feel pretty sore.
“It’s hard to find that top, top level in every single game but when you are not quite playing at your very best you just want to keep yourselves in the game.
“At one-nil, you always think you’ve got a chance as you don’t need to win it in 90 minutes. But as soon as it went two-nil, we were climbing a mountain.
“We had that little spur in the last 10 minutes but it was too little too late.”
Scotland will have no choice but to turn their attention to two years down the line and Euro 2024.
And they will have to narrow in their focus quick sharp with Armenia due in Glasgow next Wednesday for the first of four Nations League fixtures which could offer a wild card for the tournament in Germany.
“Listen, you bounce back obviously,” said Christie. “2024 seems a long way away but that’s the thing we need too look at next.
“The next few days, this is going to hurt. But as long as we can react in the right manner, we’ve got a few good games to bounce back in before the camp finishes.
“They are big games as well. When you look at the way the Nations League has helped us in the past, we need to bounce back.
“Since the last Euros everyone’s been saying that we didn’t want to be a one tournament team.
“An opportunity has been passed up but hopefully we learn from this experience and make sure we don’t let it happen again.
“I think if you ask anyone, as soon as you suffer a defeat the one thing you want to do is play football again, put it right and get a good result.
“That helps to heal the wounds. This is a ridiculously tough one to take. We could see the fans at the end and how gutted they were for us and how we were for them.
“The only way you can make it up to them and ourselves is to bounce back with god results ad start putting another good run together.”
