Scotland 0 Slovenia 0: There was the pride and the passion that Scotland had craved, but not the reward. Berti Vogts will take much from a tetchy and nerve-racked evening in Glasgow, but his side failed to claim the points which would have sparked their qualifying campaign.
Victory would have relieved the pressure which has long been building on the German.
This stalemate will ease it only slightly, though Vogts need not fear the outcome of this morning's routine Scottish Football Association board meeting quite so much. He will remain in charge to steer the team towards next month's games with stuttering Norway and the early whipping boys, Moldova, though this group is tightening already.
Nigel Quashie's blistering 25-yard attempt, tipped acrobatically over by Borut Mavric, was the nearest Scotland came to puncturing Slovenia here last night with a tense contest descending into a comical exchange of goalkeeping errors by the end.
Against better sides Craig Gordon's fragility would have been punished; in this mish-mash, the handling errors merely added to the drama.
Vogts's record in friendlies may be undeniably miserable, but when it has mattered most his side has generally produced.
There had been only three defeats in his 10 competitive fixtures with Hampden proving impregnable. But so much - not least the coach's own position - depended upon whipping up a performance here.
The locals were duly treated to a predictably frenzied opening, though they had ebbed into frustration by the interval. That was born partly of the Scots' inability to earn the lead their frantic approach merited, but more of the Slovenians' propensity to crumple to the turf at the merest breath of a challenge.
The former Tottenham midfielder Milenko Acimovic came close with a free-kick, a rare foray forward for the visitors though the Scots, for all their busy energy, had created few clear-cut opportunities themselves.
Aleksander Knavs, under constant pressure from the waspish Paul Dickov, sliced a clearance early on which Mavric did well to touch on to the bar, with the goalkeeper well placed to deal with a poked attempt from Darren Fletcher before the breathless opening quarter-hour was up.
The Manchester United midfielder was impressive in a wide berth yet, increasingly, it was upon their Evertonian flank on the opposite side which Scotland relied. James McFadden, swerving and dipping away from his marker, and Gary Naysmith offered real bite, the latter's barnstorming run from deep inside his own half culminating in Fletcher stretching to nod over just before the break.
Not to be undone, the pesky McFadden gathered possession on the edge of the area, turned and whipped a delicious shot which bent cruelly just wide of the far post with Mavric beaten.
Given that the Scots were usually out-numbered in the centre, the suspicion was it that it would take something inspired to prise out a lead. Not so at the other end. An innocuous cross flung over from the left prompted panic between Malky Makay and Gordon with the goalkeeper spilling the centre. Ermin Siljak was presented with an open goal but, off balance, could only prod a shot which struck Mackay.
Acimovic, scorer of a hat-trick in the 3-0 mauling of Moldova, should have eased Siljak's embarrassment moments later but blazed horribly over. Nastja Ceh spat a shot from distance which Gordon, on his competitive debut, spilled. The ball bobbled agonisingly towards the unprotected goal-line before Gordon regained his senses to haul it in at the last.
SCOTLAND: Gordon, Caldwell, Webster, Mackay, Naysmith (Holt 59), Fletcher, Ferguson, McNamara, Quashie, Dickov (Crawford 80), McFadden. Subs Not Used: Marshall, Miller, Cameron, Pearson, Anderson. Booked: Dickov, McFadden.
SLOVENIA: Borut Mavric, Karic, Knavs, Matej Mavric, Pokorn, Seslar, Ceh, Komac, Dedic (Sukalo 79), Siljak (Lavric 64), Acimovic. Subs Not Used: Handanovic, Tanjic, Cesar, Koren, Ilic. Booked: Seslar, Karic, Knavs.
Referee: Claus Bo-Larsen (Denmark).
