Steve Clarke refused to single out Grant Hanley after his late penalty concession saw Scotland fall to defeat against Poland at Hampden Park in the opening game of their Nations League section.
The Scots came back from the dead on the night, clawing back a two-goal deficit that had also owed much to their own individual errors.
The fightback would ultimately prove futile though, as Hanley dived in on Nicola Zalewski in stoppage time to concede a spot kick that the Polish attacker scored, consigning Scotland to another devastating defeat.
Clarke admitted that his team had to stop shooting themselves in the foot, but would not point the finger of blame at Hanley or any other individual players for the loss.
“Everyone's disappointed, we lost a game that we shouldn't have lost,” Clarke said.
“It's not about picking out individuals, we never do that, I've never done that. I'm not going to start now.
“We win as a team, we lose as a team. We'll go away, we'll analyse the game and we'll speak in camp.
“I’m obviously disappointed to lose a game like that, a game that we shouldn't lose. If you make errors at this level, you get punished, and we got punished severely for the errors that we made in the game.
“I think if I analyse the performance, I have to be happy with the performance. There's a small crumb of comfort for a head coach. We didn't have a lot of time to work on the training pitch.
“We knew the system that Poland would play would cause one or two different issues to what you would normally face.
“I thought we dealt that well, the team shape was good, the attitude and energy of the players was excellent.”
Scotland have now conceded 17 goals in eight matches during this calendar year, and many have been self-inflicted. When asked how he can eradicate such lapses among his players, Clarke said: “Good question. Keep working hard. That's the only thing you can do, work on the training ground, ask the players to not make those errors and hopefully as we move forward that will be the case.”
Despite another sickening gut punch for the Tartan Army, Clarke was grateful for their backing on the night, and he feels they showed they are still with his team.
“They were fantastic,” he said.
“Even in the first half when the goals went against us, I always felt that the supporters were with us.
“I think the supporters enjoy watching their team when they play like that. Obviously they don't enjoy going home on the back of a disappointing defeat. But I think they can see that we try to do something a little bit different, we try to play a little bit different, we try to put some positive energy into the team.
“The supporters were fantastic in the summer. For me, the supporters when they come to Hampden are always great. Full house tonight.
“It could have been a lot of them said I'm not going to go after the disappointments they had in the summer. They've all turned up, they've got behind us. Fantastic atmosphere.
“I'm just sorry that they're going home sad again.”
