Scotland’s flower power runs out . . . and nobody’s surprised

THAT Flower of Scotland, oh that Flower of Scotland. As the anthem says: ‘The hills are bare now,’ and that was how Gordon Strachan, his players and the Tartan Army felt as they slumped away from Ljubljana ‘o’er land that is lost now’. Scottish football followers are hardly unfamiliar with the notion of raised, then crushed, expectations, but while this latest campaign joined a list dating back to the goal-difference exit in 1974 in West Germany, and Archie Gemmill in 1978, it lacked the true agony of previous disappointments. While there was drama — taking the lead through Leigh Griffiths, losing it, then drawing level in the 88th minute through Robert Snodgrass — there was a flatness to the Scots’ display. This was not the heroic failure of old. This was average. In FIFA’s rankings this was 55th v 43rd. And it showed. If the first half can be excused due to caginess, the second was less easy to explain. One down at home, Slovenia found something to play for that the Scots did not. Slovenia were level seven minutes after the restart and had more energy than Strachan’s men, who were unable to move themselves up the pitch. The Atalanta midfielder Josip Ilicic was allowed to become the dominant presence. Roman Bezjak scored Slovenia’s first with a close-range header from an Ilicic free-kick and Bezjak then passed in Slovenia’s second on 72 minutes. It looked soft. It was soft. It gave Scotland 18 minutes — plus an added five — to get the two goals that would mean a play-off chance of their first finals appearance since France 98. And the theme of this tartan campaign has been lateness. There were those two Griffiths free-kicks against England — in minutes 87 and 90 — and of course last Thursday, the 89th-minute own goal from Slovakia’s Martin Skrtel that teed up Ljubljana. And Scotland produced late again. Darren Fletcher sort-of compensated for a bad miss in the 78th minute with an arrowed pass to Snodgrass 10 minutes later. It was 2-2 and Slovenia were about to have their centre half Cesar sent off. Cesar’s name suggests drama. There had to be one last chance, and there was. It fell to Snodgrass, who perhaps should have been on earlier. But Jan Oblak saved. A few seconds later, the whistle blew. Scotland’s last orders had been called. Again.