BLEARY-EYED, they arrived at a dreary Euston station for the train home.

Some hungover, some just tired . . . but all bitterly disappointed.

The grey skies and rain-laden clouds did little to lift the mood as the country stared down the barrel of another footballing failure.

Authorities have estimated 14,000 Scots made the trek south of the Border for Friday night’s Auld Enemy clash.

But in truth the figure was much higher.

Yesterday many headed home.

Some had bedded down for the night at London’s railway stations, escaping on the first trains out of the capital in the early hours of the morning.

But it was the services in the afternoon which carried hordes of the defeated Tartan Army back home again.

Contrasting with the party atmosphere on the trains that left Glasgow and Edinburgh on Friday morning, the mood on the return leg was understandably sombre.

There was less swagger in their kilted walk, more sheepish looks as they reflected on a heavy defeat to their greatest footballing enemy.

The Tartan Army foot-soldiers had travelled more in hope than in expectation.

And so it proved.

“The manner of defeat was hard to take,” said Stuart Darling, 35, from Motherwell.

“The only thing I really wanted was a Scottish goal to celebrate at Wembley.

“But it was disappointing to travel all that way and not get it.

“It was my first time at Wembley, but despite the result I’d probably do it again!”

That loyalty is characteristic of the travelling Tartan Army.

Home and away, they travel in their thousands.

On Friday night, many fans struggling for tickets for the Scottish enclosure ended up in the English section. But that sort of blind devotion is now being severely tested.

With the defeat all but confirming Scotland will not play in the World Cup in Russia in 2018, some supporters on yesterday’s 1.30pm from London Euston to Glasgow insisted they’d had enough.

Adam Keown, 41, said: “When I started following Scotland, most campaigns were glorious failures.

“Now they’re just failures. A lot of the guys have had enough.”

Ross McKenzie, 46, from Kilmarnock, said: “I’ve spent a minor fortune on following Scotland over the years.

“We’re not going to go to Russia with the men’s team but the women’s team have qualified for the Euros in the Netherlands next summer.

“Surely they can’t let us down as much as the men have.”

With Scotland you never know.

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Ticket trouble… but at least I had a friend

By Gordon Blackstock

 

TRYING to secure a ticket for Friday night’s match was trickier than I expected.

Various official – and unofficial – sources had let me down.

By Friday morning, Scottish enclosure briefs were like gold dust.

It meant I travelled down with the realistic possibility of watching the game from a pub in London, which is something I could have done from the comfort of my own home.

I wasn’t alone.

The train was packed with Scots on the lookout for tickets.

Rob was one of them.

The dad, 52, had travelled down with his 16-year-old son with one ticket between them, which Rob had qualified for through decades following the Tartan Army. Generously, he’d given it to his boy.

A Tartan Army veteran, Rob was willing to take his chances with the touts in London and told me where to go as we made our way from the train.

By 6pm I’d landed one in the heaving pubs around Covent Garden, paying £50 for a ticket for the England end, the face value of which was just £20.

Separated from my friends who were sensibly in the Scottish end, I’d have to go incognito to blend in with the army of English fans.

By the time I’d climbed to the third tier of the massive stadium I’d become a paranoid wreck convinced my ruse would be rumbled.

Surely someone around me would blow my cover?

But it wasn’t to be.

Finding my seat I looked up to see who was sitting next to me and slowly recognised a friendly face among a hostile crowd – Rob!

While watching our team slump to defeat, deep behind enemy lines, at least we were able to console each other…

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