AFTER the party, the hangover. That it was a bloke with a name that sounded suspiciously like ‘Grey Goose’ who inflicted the damage upon Scotland in Slovakia seemed fitting.

As it was, it was a first-half goal from Jan Gregus that brought Scotland back to earth a little after the high of Thursday night, although there were a few impressive performances here that may give Steve Clarke a headache to rival the one he had on Friday morning when he comes to select his squad for Euro 2020.

Unfortunately, Oli McBurnie - as has been the story of his Scotland career thus far - missed his chance. It’s not that the Sheffield United man played badly in Trnava. In fact, his all-round play was more than decent. He linked the play well and he certainly won more balls in the air than he did when he came on against Serbia on Thursday. Which wouldn’t be hard, in fairness.

His effort certainly couldn’t be faulted here, but seldom has a player needed a goal more for Scotland, and seldom has a player looked less likely to get one.

The forward had three great chances here in the first half. Twice, it appeared that his lack of confidence in his country’s colours cost him the opportunity to finally break his duck on his 14th cap, taking an extra touch when he could have got a shot away from a good position and being crowded out as a result on both occasions.

The third chance was a header from around 10 yards that perfectly fitted that old cliché of being a nailed on goal had he directed the ball either side of the keeper. Which seems self-evident. The ball though was directed straight at Slovakian number one Marek Rodak, who was the chief party-pooper throughout the afternoon.

There was little for McBurnie to work with in the second half as Scotland struggled to create as frequently as they had before the break, but it is perhaps the success of Lyndon Dykes since his introduction to the side that has drawn McBurnie’s deficiencies into starker focus.

The criticism of the 24-year-old from some quarters is undoubtedly excessive, but even he would have to admit that he has it all to do to convince just about everyone in Scotland outside of Steve Clarke that he deserves his place in the national side.

Clarke’s opinion though is the only one that actually matters, a thought that McBurnie should perhaps console himself with as he picks up his phone and scrolls through the torrent of abuse that will undoubtedly greet him on social media.

McBurnie starting was one of eight changes made by Clarke, with perhaps the only surprise being that there were three players deemed to have sobered up enough to make the team.

Scotland were looking comfortable and had racked up those chances through McBurnie, but after half an hour the Slovaks took the lead out of nowhere. The hosts played through Scotland’s high press and the ball was worked to Gregus on the edge of the box. He squeezed off a shot that took a decisive deflection off Kenny McLean and into Craig Gordon’s bottom right-hand corner through a ruck of bodies.

Scotland were undeterred and continued to push forward, with Kieran Tierney and Ryan Christie in particular causing all sorts of problems for the Slovaks.

Christie was the provider again as his first-time ball released Stuart Armstrong, and with the keeper hesitating, the Southampton man nicked in and was unlucky to see his effort squirm just wide of the target.

Scotland continued to play well enough into the second half despite their deficit, and they thought they had the equaliser as the excellent Tierney swung in a ball from the left that McLean attacked with a header, but the Norwich man was denied by another wonderful save from Rodak.

Given the exertions of Thursday night, it was a surprise to see Clarke wait until around 20 minutes before the end before utilising his bench, with Leigh Griffiths replacing Andy Considine as the Scotland manager eventually decided to twist.

With the final kick, it looked to have paid off, with Griffiths running in behind onto a Lawrence Shankland pass and smashing the ball across goal towards the bottom corner, only for Rodak to throw himself to his left and deny him a last-gasp equaliser with a stunning save.

With The Celtic forward back in the mix though, and with Shankland in reserve too, Scotland’s forward options look strong even taking into account the stuttering form of McBurnie.

Alas, the party – and Scotland’s nine-match unbeaten run – was over. But when Dykes comes back into the fold along with a few others, which they may as the Scots go in search of the win in Israel on Wednesday that would seal promotion in the Nations League, there was plenty here to suggest that this Scotland squad will give the Tartan Army plenty of reasons to celebrate in the near future.