Scotland’s World Cup campaign has suffered a significant blow before it even properly started, and the familiar feelings of heartache are already setting in.
Normally, Scotland wait until they arrive at a tournament before wrestling with those customary hammer blows of misfortune and despair.
This time, however, the damage came on a Saturday afternoon, a full 24 hours before the squad even stepped onto the team flight at Glasgow Airport.
Billy Gilmour felt something go pop inside his right knee after being clattered by a couple of cloggers from Curacao, and suddenly everything changed.
Steve Clarke’s side is a far better one when the Napoli man is minding its middle and orchestrating its general flow from there, as he did for 40 minutes at Hampden.
Gilmour will require somewhere between six to eight weeks to make a full physical recovery after damaging ligaments in the act of popping off a simple five-yard pass.
Clarke responded by handing Gilmour’s boarding pass to 19-year-old Tyler Fletcher, who has little more than half an hour of first-team football at Manchester United to his name.
Lennon Miller, Connor Barron and Andy Irving each believed they might be next in line, yet Clarke called all three only to deliver further bad news.
Clarke told all three that their services would still not be required despite Gilmour’s injury, leaving them more crestfallen and confused than when originally omitted from the 26-strong squad.
Fletcher did look elegant and unruffled when he came off Clarke’s bench at half-time in Saturday’s 4-1 send-off victory against Curacao.
Clarke himself enthused after the match: “Everybody was impressed — the players were impressed, the coaching staff were impressed, I had no doubts.”
Clarke added: “I actually thought about putting him on as Billy came off but I just thought I’d have a little look, see how it panned out before introducing him at half-time.”
Fletcher’s father Darren knows a thing or two about what is required at this level, which is partly why Clarke drafted the teenager into training camp initially.
It was Findlay Curtis who replaced Gilmour shortly before the end of the first half, and the youngster wasted no time in announcing his entrance.
Curtis levelled the scores with his first few touches and then won the penalty converted by Ryan Christie to add polish to the scoreboard.
Ben Gannon-Doak, for whom Bournemouth paid £25million to sign from Liverpool, is another option, though he looked ring-rusty at the weekend after a season battling injuries.
Skipper Andy Robertson appeared to relish tag-teaming with Curtis down Scotland’s left flank, and that flourishing relationship may also factor into Clarke’s thinking.
Lawrence Shankland’s second-half double must surely have cemented his starting place in Clarke’s attack for the must-win opener against Haiti in Boston in 12 days’ time.
Shankland goes into the tournament having suffered a title loss in excruciating circumstances but also having achieved a lifelong ambition by signing for Rangers, and his eye looks sharp.
Gilmour’s savage exit has already delivered the warning that Scotland and their supporters should expect the unexpected over the weeks ahead.
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