Let's be brutally honest. It could have been worse. But even though John McGinn sparked a second half salvage mission last night, it was still hard to imagine how things could possibly get any more Scottish than this.
At a time when everyone else is about to get a World Cup finals for their Christmas, we were dispatched to the Syrian border. Subjected to a bit of a stuffing by Turkey. It’s just as well we have a sense of humour because if we couldn’t laugh at a time like this then the feeling of self pity might be overwhelming.
In many respects, we ought to be proud of Steve Clarke and his boys for leading the boycott of this grotesque, sham of a tournament just down the road in the Gulf. And yet, even so, last night it didn’t half feel as if we were being forced to pay a rather depressing price for our nation’s devotion to human decency.
