Serbia will share more than a pitch with Scotland tomorrow night.

There will be a mutual distress between two side's whose World Cup qualifying hopes have been strewn either side of the Road to Rio, with the Serbs perhaps the only team in Europe feeling worse than Gordon Strachan's side since they endured a tame surrender to Croatia in Zagreb on Friday night.

It was a Balkan derby for which Serbia did not seem to turn up. They will report back to Novi Sad tomorrow and will expect a rather uncomfortable debrief from the locals; Sinisa Mihajlovic, the Serbia manager, having been asked if he would accept that he is a coaching ignoramus by a Serbian journalist in Zagreb. It is the sort of moment which can make a coach pine for the day his face is simply superimposed on to a vegetable.

The feeling of losing a fierce derby is always one which will leave a nation raw and Mihajlovic would have expected a terse reaction. He picked a very young, inexperienced team on Friday and they could not cope with a Croatian side which barely felt the need to impose themselves.

Branislav Ivanovic, the Chelsea defender and Serbia captain, formed part of a defence that seemed unable to get to grips with opposition strikers who routinely gave them the slip. He was left visibly deflated after the game, left numb by the haplessness of his country's defeat.

Not even the prospect of facing a broken bunch of Scots was enough to cheer him up. "For us, psychologically, it's going to be more difficult to play against Scotland than it was [in Zagreb]," said Ivanovic, whose side conceded goals from Mario Mandzukic and Ivica Olic in the first half. "We're back in our country where everyone will be disappointed in us – the media, supporters, everyone. It means more pressure for us but with this young squad we must show more character and quality on the pitch.

"Of course, it will be very difficult. We have to switch on quick and to think only about the game, which is very difficult at this moment to think only about Scotland. The game against Scotland is very important and will be a good test for us."

Serbia froze in the hostile atmosphere of the Maksimir Stadium, where half the crowd chanted "kill, kill" to which the other half responded with "the Serbs". In truth though, on the pitch the action was far less abrasive, with barely a hefty challenge all night.

The Serbs were so intent on being good sportsmen and maintaining a Fair Play approach to the game – which included applauding the Croatian national anthem, despite their own one being wildly jeered minutes earlier – they completely lost their edge for such a crucial game.

Ivanovic later acknowledged it was a disastrous evening for his side, and in the first meeting between the two countries since the 1990s civil war, too. "It was very disappointing for our country, for our supporters, and it was difficult to concede two early goals," he said.

"The first goal in this kind of game is massive and it gave them a big advantage. We did everything to get back in the game but we didn't do that and it's very disappointing. Both teams came into the game under pressure, but we expected that. Now we must look forward to the Scotland game. We have another chance against Croatia in Belgrade."