Scotland captain Andrew Robertson believes they let themselves down with their performance against Ukraine.
Steve Clarke's side were two goals down before they got going in their World Cup play-off semi-final at Hampden Park and ultimately lost 3-1 after Callum McGregor had given them a lifeline.
It was a first defeat in nine matches for Scotland, who won their final six qualifiers to earn a home game in the semi-finals.
Robertson told Sky Sports: “We have waited a long time for this game, our performances beforehand have been really good going into it and to be honest we didn’t really show up.
“Ukraine settled into the game a lot quicker than us and it kind of continued. We knew they were probably going to get tired and that was the case but we gave ourselves too much of an uphill battle.
“After a really positive campaign, we have let ourselves down.”
Ukraine travel to Wales for the final while Scotland prepare to begin their latest Nations League campaign at home to Armenia next Wednesday.
“We have to stick together,” Robertson said. “We know there will be scrutiny coming our way. We know we will be under fire, that’s the way of it.
“But we have to stick together as a group. We have made massive strides over the past couple of years and there will come a time where we need to take perspective on that. But tonight is not that night.
“All we can say is sorry to the fans for disappointing them but we just have to dust ourselves down and try to go again.”
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