Scotland Under-21s’ European Championship qualification hopes effectively ended with a 6-1 hammering by their Holland counterparts at St Mirren Park.
A first-half hat-trick by FC Twente winger Quincy Promes gave the home side a lesson in finishing and the visitors a comfortable interval lead.
Manchester City defender Karim Rekik – who spent last season on loan at PSV Eindhoven – made it 4-0 with only five minutes played in the second half and a quick-fire brace from substitute Hakim Ziyech compounded the hosts’ misery before Stevie May grabbed his 28th goal of the season as consolation with five minutes left.
Billy Stark’s side, who had lost 4-0 when they played the Dutch in September, remained in fourth place in Group Three – six points behind Slovakia and Holland.
The Scots could still make second place but can only amass a points tally which would be likely not be enough to give them a play-off place as one of the four best runners-up.
Stark, indeed, had admitted his team needed three wins from their final three qualifiers against the Dutch, Luxembourg and Slovakia if they were to reach next year’s finals in the Czech Republic, and they fell at the first hurdle.
The visitors had four players – Promes, Rekik, Tonny Trinidade de Vilhena and Jean-Paul Boetius – in Louis van Gaal’s provisional 30-man squad for this summer’s World Cup.
This was their last chance to stake a claim for Brazil but Scotland, initially, were not fazed and made a decent start to the match.
In the 13th minute skipper Stuart Armstrong came close after being played in by Ryan Fraser, the Dundee United midfielder’s dink from eight yards beating Dutch keeper Warner Hahn but just going wide of the target.
Holland stepped it up and, at the other end, Rekik headed a de Vilhena free-kick over the bar from six yards out, before striker Luc Castaignos blasted a great chance over the bar with only Scotland goalkeeper Jordan Archer to beat.
In the 25th minute Callum McGregor might have done better with a header from 12 yards which went wide of the target and the home side were made to pay a minute later when, as Holland swarmed around the Scots’ penalty area, Promes drilled in a left-footed shot from the edge of the box after being given far too much time to set himself up for the strike.
Scotland fought back with St Mirren midfielder John McGinn drilling a shot from outside the box off the base of the post moments later, the Dutch defence happy to get the ball away.
However, five minutes before the break, Promes all too easily burrowed his way in to the box before hammering a drive from 14 yards in off the bar.
Two minutes later there was more woe for the home side when a defensive mix-up allowed Holland captain Marco van Ginkel to send Promes clear and he confidently strode into the box and hammered the ball behind Archer.
When Rekik slammed a shot in four in off the bar from the edge of the box in the 50th minute after Scotland midfielder Kenny McLean had cleared a Van Ginkel header off the line, it became embarrassing for Stark’s youngsters.
The tempo of the game dipped, the visitors happy to keep possession and the Scots looking to prevent further damage but they could not as Ziyech – on in the 75th minute for De Vilhena – fired in a wonderful strike from distance a minute later before grabbing a second with a volley from the edge of the box three minutes later.
May’s low drive from the edge of the box in the 85th minute at least gave the many young fans in the crowd of 3,002 something to cheer, but it was a night the home side will want to quickly forget.