SCOT Gemmill insisted there were plenty of positives to take from the campaign despite Scotland crashing out of qualifying contention in Kiev last night.
Celtic midfielder Lewis Morgan got the young Scots off to a brilliant start with a goal after just 53 seconds, but they were made to rue missed first-half opportunities. And Rangers keeper Robby McCrorie allowed a long-range shot from Oleksandr Zubkov to slip past him which gifted Ukraine the lead, after the same player had earlier equalised.
Scotland needed to win to stay in with a chance of reaching the play-offs as one of four best placed runners-up, but as they pushed for an equaliser they allowed Viktor Kovalenko to net with the last kick of the ball to give the hosts a flattering scoreline.
But Gemmill believes his side are progressing. He said: "I'm satisfied we made a huge improvement in our performance against Ukraine if you compare the game in Scotland against them with that. But of course we are disappointed to lose.
"We all know we had chances that would have changed the pattern of the game. Those key moments are the challenge to young players - being able to take those chances at key moments. There was definitely a reaction to their goals and the players allowed their disappointment to affect them.
"With Robby, it's the life of a goalie, isn't it? He's handled it before and reacted in the right manner before and you have to remember how important he has been for us. Against France at the Toulon Tournament and Holland away in the last game he made some great saves. There's no doubt he will be able to handle it maturely.
"The big thing for me is the young players who are in the squad - over 10 of them can play again in the next campaign and also the players who have already moved up from the 21s to the full squad. We feel the performances are getting stronger."
Scotland got off a stunning start when they took the lead in just 53 seconds. Ayr United full-back Liam Smith picked out Eamonn Brophy with a superb defence-splitting pass and the Kilmarnock striker squared to the onrushing Morgan and the Celtic midfielder finished in style.
Ryan Porteous and Stevie Mallan both went close to extending Scotland's lead before the hosts equalised with their real attack of note in the 32nd minute when a shot from Zubkov took a slight deflection off Porteous which was enough to send the ball past McCrorie.
Ukraine hugely improved after that leveller and they were gifted the lead in the 56th minute after a howler from McCrorie. Zubkov hit a speculative effort from 30 yards that should have been meat and drink for the Rangers youngster, but he could only fumble the ball into his own net.
Scotland were killed off with the last kick of the ball in injury time when Kovalenko scored.
Morgan agreed with his manager after the game there would be no blame attached to McCrorie.
He said: "We all stand behind Robby, I have never been a goalkeeper and have never been in that situation so I don’t know if he was unsighted or the ball swerved.
"He made a couple of good saves in the game and maybe he will say he could have done better with the second goal. He needs to put it to the back of his mind and keep working hard.
"Ukraine were on the backfoot for large portions of the first half and we should have been more than just one goal ahead by the time they scored their first.
“We started very well, I have never scored a faster goal in my career but it means little now. Ukraine were on the backfoot for large portions of the first half and we should have been more than just one goal ahead by the time they scored their first."
UKRAINE (4-2-3-1): Lunin; Kyryukhantsev, Popov, Mykolenko, Mykhaylicjenko; Shepeliev, Pikhalomok; Shved (Boryachuk 71), Kovalenko, Lunov (Tretyakov 39); Zubkov (Shaparenko 82).
UNUSED SUBS :Kanevisev, Lukyanchuik, Ladnev, Nazaryna.
Booked: Lunov
SCOTLAND (4-2-3-1) Robby McCrorie; Smith, Bates, Porteous, Taylor; Mallan, Ross McCrorie; Cadden, Campbell (Gilmour 90), Morgan; Brophy (Middleton 68)
UNUSED SUBS: Doohan, McIntyre, Shaw, Watt, Williamson.
Booked: None.
REF: A Deacounu (Romania)
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