The players were solemn, and the mood was one of lingering dejection. Even if there had been periods of the game when Scotland were bright and assertive, the team has now lost twice, under two different managers, to Wales.
Robert Snodgrass apologised to his teammates in the dressing room, but no one player was wholly culpable. The opening 20 minutes at Hampden had been chastening, but it was the result that left Scotland rueing their failure to hold onto the advantage they earned through Grant Hanley's first-half header.
"Obviously, they got off to a flier and were playing really well," said Chris Burke. "We weathered the storm having been a bit nervous. We just didn't get to pass the ball and they pressed us, so maybe you have to give them credit. Having dug in, we got the goal and were winning at half-time. Even though they had a lot of possession, we had chances to score. Having started the second-half in the [same] way, we had taken the game to them and I really felty we were going to get another goal in that period. I feel for Robert because I thought he was magnificent. He was turning on the ball and was really unlucky to hit the post.His sending-off changed an awful lot in the game. Robert apologised to the rest of the lads for the red card, but the manager said there was no need for that and that he had played magnificently."
Steven Fletcher was stretchered off in the first half with a suspected broken leg, but the view last night was that it was more likely to be ligament damage.
The manager, Gordon Strachan, told his players to regroup and look back in the performance today before preparing for Tuesday's game away to Serbia.
"He just said to go back to the hotel and we'll speak about it on Saturday," Burke said. "It's a case of trying to get points on the board and trying to play well. We will look to improve, play better than we did against Wales and try to get a better balance as a team and a group.
"There's no point in feeling sorry for ourselves and talking about 'What ifs?' We need to stand up and be counted. I hope the fans stay patient with us. It was the manager's first competitive game in charge. He's got his own way of playing and change doesn't happen overnight. It takes time.
"We do have the ability to get results over the rest of this campaign. There is no point coming across all doom and gloom at this point. We are relishing the challenge of playing top quality opposition. We have to be patient and see where it takes us. We need to build as a group, play better and improve with each game."
There were sources of optimal ism, with Snodgrass playing well and Shaun Maloney, too, impressing.
"It was just getting to grips with the way they were playing," Maloney said of Scotland's poor start. "We started to press higher up, which stopped them getting easy balls. There were patches when Wales were on top, but it's disappointing to come away with the results we have against Wales."
