Scotland's pain game goes on - this team is turning dreaded trait into an art form

Oh, Scotland. A year to the day since the Scottish Football Association were demanding clarification from Uefa after Scott McTominay’s opening goal against Spain was disallowed for offside in controversial circumstances, they were again harshly treated by the fates. There is, however, no need for the SFA to write to Uefa on this occasion.

Che Adams had strayed marginally offside earlier in the move before clipping past Dominik Livakovic while under pressure from substitute Kristijan Jakic. A matter of inches, yes. But offside.

Scotland are turning playing well and not winning into an art form. It is worrying trend when they are already on a longest-ever run without a competitive victory.

Chalk it up as nine now. And revise that one-win-in-14-outings statistic that started to trip off the tongue to one-win-in-15. Thank goodness for Gibraltar. Without them, Scotland would be in danger of going a full calendar year without a win. They might still finish 2024, when they aimed to make history by reaching the second stage of a major tournament for the first time, without a competitive victory.

For the benefit of those watching on YouTube, Scotland are the ones walking off dejected, yet again. This time there was bemusement mixed in with the anguish. A delicious scene - from Scotland's point of view - had unfolded moments earlier; a seeming equaliser, a celebration in the corner and Croatian players with reason to slump to their knees.

But relief proved temporary. The dreaded hand of VAR intervened and referee Istvan Kovacs delivered a double dunt when signalling for a free kick before, seconds later, blowing the final whistle for good measure.

It took a while for the consequences to sink in. The Scotland players hung around the centre circle in the hope that there had been some kind of mistake. As for the winners, who went from deflation to delight, they seemed nearly as perplexed. Josko Gvardiol turned and embraced Jakic, who had come in the final minute. But it needed the Tannoy announcer to confirm to the fans that Croatia had actually won.

Craig Gordon can hold his head up high on his return. The returning goalkeeper made some good stops and could do nothing about the goals. Indeed, he pulled off a superb save from Borna Sosa directly before Andrey Kramaric nodded in the rebound for Croatia’s winner with 20 minutes left. At least it wasn’t late heartache this time around someone noted in an attempt to source some consolation. Then came Adams’ ‘goal’. Indeed, the Torino striker, who did not start due to suffering illness earlier in the week, had already come close to snatching a late equaliser moments beforehand when he clipped a shot just past the far post.

For the second successive game at a difficult venue, Scotland could not secure anything tangible despite scoring first. The lead on this occasion lasted barely three minutes.

If Scotland had held on, the Croatian press would have been writing about the hosts being the architects of their own downfall. Luka Sucic made a mess of a clearance – not a striker’s forte - and Ryan Christie stepped in to score at the same end where Robert Snodgrass struck in the first half on Scotland’s last visit here. Sadly for the visitors, Christie’s goal did not prove as decisive. Nor did it count for anything in the end.

Sucic completely miscued and Duje Caleta-Car could only help Christie’s shot into the net. With 33 minutes on the clock, the first target was reaching half-time still in front. Instead, Scotland were breached in the next purposeful attack from their hosts. Igor Matanovic, the Eintracht Frankfurt forward, smashed in his first international goal into the corner of Gordon's goal following a clever reverse pass from Ivan Perisic. The ball had passed through John Souttar’s legs to make it doubly unsavable from the returning goalkeeper’s point of view.

The 41-year-old, who was underlining his own record as Scotland oldest player, had been largely untroubled prior to this despite Croatia’s dominance of the ball. He clutched an early cross confidently. It was not until the half hour mark that he was forced to push an angled shot from Kramaric shot up into the air.

The 'keeper had warmed up in the literal twilight. Floodlights had not been switched on but the sun had long since dipped behind the curiously misshapen stands, one of which has been rendered unfit for use due to the 2020 earthquake. A great bank of empty seats loomed over the pitch along one side of the ground.

Gordon was striving to make what was only his first comeback when Scotland last played here. Grant Hanley was the only survivor of that 1-0 World Cup qualifying win under Gordon Strachan in 2013. At the other end of the scale to Gordon, 18-year-old Ben Doak became the youngest player to start a competitive match for Scotland since Willie Johnston against Poland in October 1965.

The on-loan Middlesbrough player looked lively if undoubtedly raw before being replaced by Ryan Gauld with 14 minutes left having had a part to play in Scotland's goal. He had earlier sought to capitalise on a slip by Manchester City defender Gvardiol but picked the wrong option when trying to find Billy Gilmour. Inevitably, it was Luka Modric who stepped in to mop up the danger. Opposition player or not, it remains a privilege watching the little midfielder. He continues to pull the strings.

There was a sense of a personal duel developing between him and Gordon, with Modric perhaps a little miffed at being outdone on the veteran part. Gordon, two years older, had to beat out a shot from Modric from under his own crossbar and then watched as another from the same player curled just past his left-hand post. Two old warriors embraced at the end. Gordon didn't deserve to finish on the losing side but he knows this story as well as anyone.