Billy Gilmour shocked at sloppy Scotland as midfielder lost for words after World Cup woe

Heartbroken Billy Gilmour admits he’s still trying to work out what went wrong at Hampden as Scotland’s date with destiny ended in disaster.

The young Chelsea star had dreams of starring in the desert sun this winter.

But he’ll now be left to watch the World Cup action in Qatar from his sofa after Steve Clarke’s side were swept aside by a Ukraine side riding on a wave of emotion.

The cards were supposed to be stacked against Oleksandr Petrakov's men, with their preparations thrown into chaos by the armed conflict sweeping through their homeland.

Decamped to Slovenia, their preparations were limited to three friendly clashes against club sides Borussia Monchengladbach, Empoli and Rijeka as they geared up for the game of their lives.

Yet it was Scotland who fell apart at the worst possible time as they saw their qualification hopes slip down the slopes of Mount Florida.

Asked what went wrong, 20-year-old Gilmour said: “To be honest I really don’t know. I’m still trying to figure it out myself.

“It’s a tough one to take right now, we were just not at it. It felt like that.

“We had glimpses in the game when we got the foot on the ball and started to play, but it just wasn’t to be.

“Of course we’re all disappointed. We wanted to go the World Cup and we want to go the Euros.

“That’s the next step, we’ve got to look forward to the Euros and that’s where we want to be.

“Did the occasion get to us? No I don’t think it was that. We knew what we needed to do, we had to come here and turn up, but on the night we just didn’t perform to our best.

“No, Ukraine definitely didn’t surprise us. We knew they were a good team, we analysed them and you can see that they’ve got good players.

“They were the better team on the night.”