Scotland's luck finally deserted them in Group B as they went down tamely to a slick Ukraine side in Kiev. It was another backs-to-the-wall display but the wall caved in after an hour when Olexander Kucher finally pierced the Scottish defence. Andriy Shevchenko added a second from the penalty spot two minutes left after he was fouled by Robbie Neilson. Kenny Miller missed a golden chance to score at 0-1 when he failed with a header in front of goal for a glaring miss. Scotland lost Steven Pressley with four minutes left after he was red-carded for pulling down Shevchenko as he homed in on goal. There were needless bookings for James McFadden and Darren Fletcher, who will both also miss the next qualifier against Georgia.
Scotland were pinned back for most of the first half, but Ukraine fashioned few openings to seriously test Craig Gordon. Shevchenko was predictably the main danger as he teased the Scottish defence. He created an early opening for Oleh Gusev but his shot was deflected for a corner. Maxym Kalinichenko then brought a comfortable save from Gordon with a 20-yard header. Scotland were well-organised even if they were rarely seen as an attacking force. Shevchenko just failed to get any real power in a close-range effort when a Kalinichenko corner caused a scramble but Gordon grabbed it quickly. Scotland's only first-half shot came from Barry Ferguson following a quick free-kick but he tugged it wide when he had space to do better. Gordon then excelled himself to bring off an outstanding save to deny Andriy Voronin in the closing stages of the first half.
There was a major let-off for Scotland two minutes into the second half when Shevchenko was given too much room in the area and his toe-poke beat Gordon but struck the base of the post. Shevchenko then headed wide when the Scotland defence tried in vain to play offside as Walter Smith's side had another narrow escape. The goal finally arrived after 60 minutes when Graham Alexander failed to clear a Shevchenko free-kick and the ball broke to Kucher who rifled a low left-foot shot past Gordon. Scotland responded and Miller was unlucky with a speculative shot from the right wing which struck the face of the crossbar. Miller then missed a glorious opening with nine minutes left when he nudged a free header wide from a Neilson cross. Then came Pressley's red card before Shevchenko wrapped up the points from the penalty spot.
