EVEN for a country which has suffered more than its fair share of harrowing disappointments on the football field over the years, this was excruciating.
In fact, can Scotland ever have dashed the dreams of their supporters in as cruel a manner and in as important a game as they did in their Russia 2018 qualifier against England at Hampden on Saturday?
Even days later, with the sense of disbelief not showing any sign of abating and the emotions still red raw, it is very difficult to remember any result hurting quite so acutely.
To recap - not that any member of the Tartan Army will have been able, despite no shortage of effort, to erase the painful events from their memory since the weekend - they had been just over a minute away from what would have been a celebrated triumph over their oldest and greatest rivals.
Leigh Griffiths had curled two sublime free-kicks over the defensive wall and into the net with his wand of a left foot in the final three minutes of regulation time to give his side a 2-1 lead.
Craig Gordon had then palmed a free-kick from Eric Dier away from his goal in injury-time and the ball had broken to Stuart Armstrong on the edge of his penalty box.
The Celtic man had Griffiths to the right of him and Chris Martin to his left and only Kyle Walker in front of him. It was three on one. There was a good chance for the home team to score on the counter attack. Armstrong just had to find one of his team mates with a pass and the victory would be assured.
But he gifted possession to Walker who sprayed the ball wide to Raheem Sterling wide on the left. The winger promptly shelled a high diagonal ball across field and Harry Kane stole in and volleyed home a late equaliser.
Why did Charlie Mulgrew run away from both the cross and the striker? Why didn’t Gordon come off his line and pluck the delivery out of the air. Why was Armstrong unable to play a simple sideways pass to one of his team mates? Why? Why? Why?
The recriminations are sure to rumble on. It will certainly take quite some time for the anguish to subside. The scars promise to be deep. But putting wounded pride to one side, if that is possible, just where does this result leave Scotland in their bid to reach the next World Cup?
Having drawn with Lithuania at home in their second match the national team really need to win a game they were not expected to in order to stand any chance of finishing second and booking a place in the play-offs. For a fleeting, glorious, improbable moment it looked as if the fixture on Saturday might be where they did it.
But did Scotland, despite being at home and having the vast majority of the 48,520 roaring them on, really have any right even to be taking even a point from this game? The gulf in quality in the players involved was glaring from kick-off to the final whistle. Any fan would have happily accepted a draw at half-time.
“Look at what we played against on Saturday,” said Strachan. “Take their centre backs compared to ours. One (Christophe Berra) has just signed for Hearts. No disrespect to Hearts, but they are fifth in the Premiership. One (Mulgrew) is in League One in England, not even the Championship.
“‘Kech (Ikechi Anya) isn’t getting a game anywhere. Snoddy (Robert Snodgrass) hasn’t played in many games at the end of the season. But this lot you can see they are playing for league titles, cup finals, everything. It must be scary for them, these guys that have not had many games either. To dig out something like that is great.”
You could argue that Strachan was at fault for selecting Anya, who hadn’t played a competitive game in over six weeks, and Snodgrass, who has been getting picked on reputation not form for some time now, in the first place.
But his point is a valid one. To withstand such an onslaught by opponents 48 places above them in the FIFA world rankings, fight back bravely after falling a goal behind and come so close to triumphing in such a massive outing is deserving of praise and has to be positive going forward.
So, too, does the contribution of Griffiths. He had failed to score in his 12 previous international matches before the weekend. But he took his goals majestically in what was his biggest test to date. His overall performance was hugely impressive.
Scotland haven’t had a prolific marksman for some time. Not since Kevin Gallacher fired them to France ’98 have they had a top class finisher who netted on a regular basis. Could Griffiths be about to fill that considerable void? There is every chance that he will.
Defensively, mistakes were certainly made. And not just at the death either. Kieran Tierney won’t have enjoyed watching the Alex Oxlade-Chamberlain goal back again. Gordon could also, despite the shot coming through Armstrong’s legs, have done far better there.
Still, to come so close to defeating a team which had won its previous 34 qualifying matches – a run of form which stretches back seven years – was an accomplishment of sorts despite how hard the denouement was to stomach.
Scotland will go into their crucial match against Lithuania in Vilnius on September 1 with confidence. Strachan, for one, is adamant that a run of nine failed qualifying campaigns can be brought to an end. He refuses to accept that his homeland’s footballing fortunes are jinxed.
“Other countries say the same thing,” he said. “I hear Swedes saying it and Danes saying it and people in England saying when they getting to the World Cup. Everybody does it.
“We had a moment on Saturday that a lot of us in football won’t forget. We will remember the noise after the second goal forever. It could have been the best ever. When you leave the game if you can leave memorable moments then you have given something to the game.”
Gordon Strachan and his Scotland side may just give their followers something to cheer before this campaign is out.
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