Things have come to a pretty pass when a scoreless draw with Lithuania is enough to make Scotland the most successful of the British countries who contested this round of Euro 2000 qualifiers.
Cocks of the local walk they may have become, but the performance at the Zalgiris Stadium did not warrant a display of plumage. In truth Craig Brown's team, to use the peerless simile of a late colleague, showed as much imagination as a battery hen.
Brown himself looked unusually careworn at the end of a fraught 90 minutes. His native buoyancy and optimism seemed to have drained away, and even the post-match psycho-babble expected of a manager trying desperately to talk up a wretched display appeared to have been all but abandoned.
The manager's humour, which in the past has come to his aid in such circumstances, made only a brief appearance as he admitted his problems. "Until we find a Ronaldo or a Hamish Zidane," said Brown. "we will struggle to score goals. But where are these players? We can't pull rabbits out of a hat.
"We have to give respect to Lithuania for what they did in the match, but we are the seeded team in our group and we looked to do much better. Yes, we defended well enough and they didn't really threaten us, but we didn't threaten them either. We didn't get the ball to our forwards."
In fact, in the towering figure of Edgaras Jankauskas, the forward for whom FC Brugge paid Torpedo Moscow £1.2 million last season, the Lithuanians had menace enough to have won. The big man's first-half header, low to the right of Jim Leighton from only six yards, drew an exceptional save from the veteran goalkeeper.
On another occasion, during a period of home pressure, Lithuania were denied only by Darren Jackson's goal-line clearance.
Perhaps most unnerving of all for Brown is the realisation that his team seem to have mislaid their happy knack of winning games. Peppered with players of only moderate talent throughout his five years in charge, Scotland teams still somehow managed to secure the victories needed to reach the finals of France '98 and the 1996 European Championship.
During the qualifying for France '98 they racked up five successive wins. But this bland draw means they have now completed nine outings without experiencing the satisfaction of a victory. Their last win was in the final World Cup qualifier, against Latvia at Celtic Park, in October 1997.
Even more disconcerting, there was never the remotest possibility that they would leave Vilnius with more than one point. Throughout the 90 minutes, Scotland contrived not a single scoring attempt.
The introduction of three debutants from the substitutes' bench was Brown's one source of encouragement.
The Blackburn full-back Callum Davidson, who is 22, the Rangers midfielder Barry Ferguson, 20, and the Hearts winger Neil McCann, 24, were so lively - relatively speaking - that the manager confirmed immediately they would "certainly be in the squad for the next two matches, at home to Estonia and the Faroes".
Lithuania: Stauce, Sugzda (Butrus 61), Semberas, R. Zutautas, Baltus, Zvirgzdauskas, Mikulenas (Slekys 90), Fugdza, Preiksaitis, Skarbalius, Jankauskas. Subs Not Used: V. Zutautas, Stumbrys, Gleveckas, Razanauskas, D. Zutautas. Booked: Semberas, Skarbalius.
Scotland: Leighton, Elliott, Boyd, Calderwood (Davidson 70), Hendry, Dailly, Gallacher, Lambert, McCoist (McCann 82), Jackson (Ferguson 56), Collins. Subs Not Used: Sullivan, Weir, Fulton, Whyte. Booked: Gallacher, Davidson.
Referee: C Zotta (Romania).
