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In emotional scenes at Hampden on Wednesday night, Scotland's World Cup dreams were ended by a dismal but deserved 3-1 loss to Ukraine.
Amid the ongoing war in Ukraine, it was the hosts who looked overawed by the occasion and failed to deliver a performance of any real quality with a place at the Qatar World Cup later this year on the line.
Here, Sportsmail dissects a night to forget for Steve Clarke's men and asks why the bid to reach Qatar 2022 came to such a shuddering halt at the play-off semi-final stage.
Scotland's hopes to reach Qatar came to a halt at the play-off semi-final stages on Wednesday
Steve Clarke (centre) and his side were comprehensively beaten 3-1 by Ukraine at Hampden
It was a night to forget for the home support, including First Minister Nicola Sturgeon (centre)
NO CASE FOR THE DEFENCE
Clarke settled on a back three to solve the specific problem of trying to shoehorn Arsenal's Kieran Tierney and Liverpool's Andy Robertson into the same starting XI.
Hindsight, of course, provides 20-20 vision and Clarke knows the game inside out.
But the system failure that unfolded at Hampden against Ukraine suggests a back four may have made more sense when it was confirmed the injured Tierney wouldn't make the game.
Clarke stuck to the tried and trusted defensive shape and it backfired. The Scots badly missed Tierney's marauding runs up the left flank, his dangerous deliveries and dogged defending.
Manchester United midfielder Scott McTominay, playing on the right of a back three, looked ill-at-ease defensively.
Manchester United midfielder Scott McTominay, in a back three, looked ill-at-ease defensively
THE DIFFERENCE WAS STRIKING
As recently as November, Scotland dispatched high-flying Denmark 2-0 at Hampden by imposing an attractive, attacking style of play on an opponent ranked in the world's top 10.
It was the finest national team performance in many a year, and Clarke's team looked not only capable of going to a World Cup but potentially making their mark on the finals once they got there.
Against Denmark, Che Adams played the lone frontman role superbly and was ably supported by John McGinn and Ryan Christie in a 3-4-2-1 formation.
But Clarke reverted to two strikers against Ukraine and the Scots were a shadow of the stylish outfit that blew away the Danes, reverted to shelling long balls up towards Lyndon Dykes.
The home side were often reduced to lumping long balls up to striker Lyndon Dykes (right)
It was a depressing throwback to the tactics in the dismal Hampden losses against Czech Republic and Croatia at Euro 2020 that saw Graeme Souness label Scotland 'a team from another era'.
Playing from back to front, Scotland's ball-players Billy Gilmour and
