Scotland's winless run stretched to six games as their wastefulness in front of goal was compounded by a late collapse against the Netherlands in Amsterdam.
Steve Clarke's side impressed for long durations against the Dutch, and spurned a succession of glorious chances, but were dealt a harsh lesson in ruthlessness at the elite level.
Trailing with 18 minutes left to Tijiani Reijnders' fabulous first-half strike, the Scots then lost three cheap goals in the final stages to flip the narrative from an encouraging evening to a chastening night.
Georginio Wijnaldum and Wout Weghorst netted, before Donyell Malen added a fourth for a Dutch side short of their best.
Scotland have now conceded 18 goals in six games, with just three friendly matches to play before they face hosts Germany in the opening game of Euro 2024.
Playing in their new Euros kit, a gallus Scotland looked the part for large spells of the contest.
Lawrence Shankland caught the eye on just his second start, as did Ryan Christie in his slightly altered role. The Bournemouth midfielder thumped a header on goal, but Mark Flekken pushed it on to the bar.
Cody Gakpo was a threat at the other end. The Liverpool forward was inches away from slipping the offside trap, flung cute crosses into the box, and took a theatrical flop over Scott McTominay in search of a penalty. No card was shown for such dramatics.
Just when it seemed Scotland would go in at the break level, Reijnders' rocket changed the script. The visitors were too generous in allowing the AC Milan midfielder to take Gakpo's lay-off and lash beyond Angus Gunn.
Could the goalkeeper have scrambled across sooner? One to debate.
Scotland heads did not drop, in what looked like a sign of maturity. They continued to spray the ball between them, even kindly affording their opponents - ranked sixth in the world - a turn with the ball themselves every now and then.
That's often all the top sides need, though. Memphis Depay astutely let the ball roll across his body to unleash a shot on the swivel. Gunn dropped to his left to tip it away. Minutes later, he rose to push Gakpo's scorcher over.
The Dutch could afford for such chances to go by, but Scotland don't have that luxury.
McTominay dilly-dallied in getting a shot away. A John McGinn effort had venom, but Flekken was on hand, while Christie got his angles wrong for a nearby header.
Then Shankland's moment seemed to have arrived. Mats Wieffer wobbled with McTominay breathing down his neck and the Hearts captain was in. One-on-one with Flekken, it's a scenario he would have dreamed of.
But he struck the bar and, as the ball disappeared over, Scotland's hopes went with it.
Wijnaldum snuck in between Jack Hendry and John Souttar to nod beyond Gunn. At that point, 2-0 felt harsh.
Weghorst then capitalised on his former United team-mate McTominay's mistimed jump to head in another, before Malen signed off the trouncing by sturdily staying on his feet to poke in a fourth.
With 18 minutes to go, disappointment seemed inevitable for Scotland after countless squandered chances. But positives were aplenty. A flogging of this nature never seemed on the cards.
For over an hour, it was one of the best away performances against a top-quality nation by Clarke's side in recent memory.
There was a control, a confidence, perhaps a cockiness at times, about their play. Chance, after chance, after chance was created. Equally, though, they were wasted - a total of 13 of them.
Scotland were faced with an in-form Flekken, who did not flounder. Scotland did, though - and then some.
An ugly defeat developed. If this was the first rehearsal for the Euros, then the curtains need to be closed and a new routine choreographed.
Or rather, a return to the old structure that served them so well in qualifying. The triple substitution that saw John Souttar, Lewis Ferguson and Che Adams enter the fray seemed to spook them.
Eyes could not be taken off the action in the first half for all the right reasons. By minute 86, whiplash could be brought about in an attempt to turn away from the misery.
Netherlands has never been a happy hunting ground. But there was hope on this voyage. Once again, it was misguided.
Source: BBC
BDST: 1031 HRS, MAR 23, 2024
SMS
