Saturday’s Hampden stalemate is almost certain to prove “Czechmate” as far as Scotland’s Euro qualifying hopes are concerned.
If so, then our players will long harbour a sense of deep injustice after two late decisions by Netherlands referee Kevin Blom robbed them of a famous victory.
Many of the official’s decisions throughout the game were “double dutch” to the Scottish players.
The two key moments, as the clocked ticked down to full-time, left them baffled and angry in equal measure.
With Scotland leading 2-1 thanks to goals from Kenny Miller and skipper Darren Fletcher, Blom’s first blunder was to award a penalty to the Czechs after sub Jan Rezek blatantly dived at the feet of Danny Wilson.
Michal Kadlec blasted the spot-kick high into Allan McGregor’s net to equalise.
Moments later, blunder two duly arrived when Christophe Berra was clipped by Roman Hubnik as he raced into the Czech penalty area.
This time, instead of awarding a penalty, the whistler booked Berra for diving and the Czechs departed with the point they feel has sealed the play-off place in the group.
Scotland still have a mathematical hope of overhauling Michal Bilek’s side but the realists will insist the sums simply do not add up.
It was a cruel way for the Tartan Army’s hopes to be all but dashed, and Scotland player James Morrison did not hold back in his criticism of the bungling Blom.
He said: “We are all gutted. Conceding a goal in the last minute killed us. I haven’t seen it but the lads say he dived and we should have had another one up the other end but the ref has had a shocker.
“UEFA probably won’t do anything about it they seem to like people diving and getting the points.
“The Czech lad has even said to Danny at the end that he hadn’t touched him. To go down like that and for the referee to buy it is a shocker.”
Continued…
“At the incident with Christophe, the guy blatantly touches him. Christophe goes down in stages but I saw the contact with my own eyes and the ref definitely got that one wrong.
“He was poor throughout the match, but we are equally disappointed that we didn’t play the way have been doing in recent months.
“We just didn’t get the ball moving. Too many times, moves broke down and we didn’t get Charlie Adam on the ball enough. We dropped off a bit and let the Czechs come on to us.
“But we fought our hearts out and took the lead twice, so it is really disappointing to lose those two goals.
“We just have to concentrate on the next game against Lithuania and hopefully pick up three points to see what the football gods can do for us. It is out of our hands now but we have to hope that the Czechs slip up.”
Fletcher, who put in an outstanding shift considering how little football he has played recently, admitted to being baffled by Blom’s behaviour throughout the game.
It seemed that the official from Gouda in Holland felt he was indeed the “big cheese” with an aloof, arrogant manner.
Fletcher said: “We have to look at the disappointments from the game, how we lost the goals, but we also have to look at the positives as well. We have to learn as a team and as individuals.
“But when refereeing decisions are as bad as that, it is really disappointing. He got two decisions massively wrong in the last minutes of the game but his general demeanour throughout … not being able to speak to him, being told to go away and black looks when you asked him questions.
“As captain, you usually get a bit more leniency when you speak to refs. I wasn’t shouting at him, I was just asking him. It is annoying when he will not give you any answers at all.
“It is not for me to decide whether action should be taken against him. That is part of the challenge about international football, experiencing foreign referees.
“You expect silly decisions sometimes but you do not expect them to cost you the game.
“I don’t think qualification is out of our reach just yet and we just have to keep fighting.”