ANDY Robertson said in the lead-up to this game that he hadn’t given a moment’s thought to the permutations of the Euro 2020 play-off Scotland have up our sleeves next March after our previous exploits in the Nations League. Well, it is probably time for him and everyone else in the Tartan Army to start giving it their full consideration.

We aren't quite done yet but that one-off semi-final, most likely against Bulgaria or Finland, and a final perhaps against Serbia or Norway, feels like our only hope of reaching our first major finals in 22 years this morning after Russia came to Glasgow and inflicted the defeat which leaves Steve Clarke’s side six points adrift in the running for second spot in Group I behind supposed winners-in-waiting Belgium. For all the promise in this group and the hope given to Scotland in the early stages by John McGinn’s opener, it would take an outlandish sequence of results now to get us there by of right.

It said it all about international football that only five players remained from the starting XI which battled valiantly in a 3-0 defeat in Brussels in July. This was most people’s common-sense selection, but there were big calls throughout Clarke’s selection. Liam Cooper, the 28-year-old captain of Leeds United, got his international debut at the heart of a defence which also welcomed back Andy Robertson - fresh from his inclusion in the long list for the FIFPro team of the year.

Social media star Oli McBurnie, fresh from his £20m move to Sheffield United, got a chance to right the wrongs up front, with his Premier League pals McGinn and Ryan Fraser given the chance to strut their stuff too. There was no room for the in-form Ryan Christie of Celtic nor Rangers’ Ryan Jack in that starting midfield, but then Clarke can’t play everyone.

McBurnie has yet to trouble the scorers in eight appearances but he wasn’t the only one desperate to break his duck last night. Prior to last night it was a source of some embarrassment to McGinn that he had gone 15 international matches without a goal and there were shades of the goal he swept in on the opening day at White Hart Lane about the way he got off the mark. Ryan Fraser’s dangerous whipped cross was too hot for Guilherme to handle with McBurnie in close attendance. The Aston Villa man cushioned it instantly and stuck it into the net.

Russia’s threat mainly came through Artem Dzyuba, the hulking Zenit St Petersburg striker. While he isn’t likely to run away from you, he is an awkward customer to dispossess and well nigh unbeatable in a jump ball if the service is right. He served notice of intent when he got a run on Mulgrew from an Aleksandr Goloviin cross and produced a looping header which would have dropped under the crossbar had Marshall not feathered it onto the roof of the net by the width of a fingernail.

Mulgrew save a header saved but McBurnie was gradually becoming a more isolated figure. One slip in concentration cost them as half time approached, Cooper getting sucked out of position to shut down a midfield runner and Robertson’s covering tackle – using his left foot when the right foot might have been wiser - as he attempted to retrieve the situation falling straight to Dzyuba, who passed it into the net beneath Marshall.

The goal took the wind out of Scotland’s sails. The second half began with no changes in personnel for either team, but with Russia firmly in the ascendancy. Cooper saw yellow for catching Dzyuba on the jaw with a forearm, then the dangerous Golovin wriggled free to fire a foot over the top.

This terrific little playmaker, parked at Monaco until his real big move arrives, was starting to find room behind Scotland’s midfield and he used it to devastating effect in the lead-up to the second goal. Again, we were architects of our own downfall, Fraser giving possession up in a dangerous area and Aleksei Ionov finding Golovin’s midfield thrust perfectly. The 23-year-old had the vision and unselfishness to play in a centre which could have been heading in from Yuri Zhirkov before a last touch from Stephen O’Donnell made sure of it.

Scotland were on the ropes now. Kenny McLean and Ryan Christie entered the fray but they had Marshall to thank for keeping them in it, his parry from a downward Mario Fernandes header as good as any you will see this season.

Mulgrew almost produced a Leigh Griffiths special to level matters after a foul on Fraser but there was an anxiety about Scotland as they searched for a goal late on, the excellent Mulgrew also required to hack an Aleksandr Erokin finish off the line.

Scotland 1

McGinn 10

Russia 2

Dzyuba 40, O’Donnell 59 og