ANARCHY IN THE UKRAINE

WE knew it couldn't last forever but even so there was something heartbreaking and horribly unjust about Scotland's defeat in Kiev last night.

Once more Walter Smith's side was all guts but this time there would be no glory as our winning streak came shuddering to a halt thanks to one of the greatest players in the world - and one of the worst refs.

Andriy Shevchenko hardly needed the help of Swedish whistler Martin Hansson to rip through Scotland's defence but the most costly man in British football history found a friend in this official whose display was so bad it was almost sinister.

Already trailing to a scrappy and wretched Ukraine goal, Smith's players - who had staged another of those heroic backs-to-the-wall performances - were slapped about the face by this tag team as the result was put beyond doubt.

First Shevchenko dived over a Steven Pressley challenge to earn the Hearts player a red card when he wasn't last man.

He then went down tamely inside the box to earn a penalty from Hansson even though the contact between striker and marker Robbie Neilson had been minimal.

It was no big surprise Shevchenko should slot home the spot-kick to cement his country's win. The surprise was whistler Hansson didn't race over to congratulate him.

In fact, Hansson's performance will continue to hurt Scotland because he also booked Darren Fletcher and James McFadden and that means Smith has three men suspended for our next match against Georgia at Hampden in five months.

As expected, the manager made minimal changes to his starting line-up from the weekend, with McFadden dropping back into his more familiar berth on the left of midfield to make way for Kenny Miller. Also in, of course, came Neilson on the right of Smith's five-man defence.

From the early moments it became clear Shevchenko was in the mood to do damage and it required a little bit of heroism from Pressley to stop Scotland falling behind in three minutes.

It was Shevchenko who opened our defence with a quite delightful dip of the shoulder to outfox Fletcher and Graham Alexander and squeeze between both of them out on Scotland's left.

Shevchenko made straight for the box and, with the Scots in a state of some disarray, quickly slipped a perfectly weighted pass into the feet of Dynamo Kiev striker Oleg Gusiev who was lurking with intent inside the area.

Gusiev hit a shot that looked to have the beating of Craig Gordon but Pressley hurled himself at the ball to prevent it crashing in at the back post.

Disaster had been averted but Shevchenko would be back. In fact, there would be times when he and his countrymen would be swarming all over our back line in a blur of garish yellow.

Scotland's players were under siege and they were not getting any help from Hansson who yellow-carded McFadden and Fletcher for no apparent reason.

It turned out McFadden had his name taken for raising a boot to protect himself from the knee-high lunge of Maksym Kalnychenko and only after shrugging off another couple of meaty challenges.

Then Hansson made a great deal out of running some 60 yards to caution Fletcher for a 10-a-penny trip when, all over the park, the home side were getting away with far more serious crimes.

Those bookings will see Fletcher and McFadden suspended for the visit of Georgia next March.

Not that Smith would have had time to dwell on this double blow last night as his players continued to resist the Ukrainians as if they were fighting for their very lives.

Shevchenko caused some more trouble after 10 minutes when he glided across Scotland's 18-yard line, working a 1-2 and then rolling a pass into the overlapping Oleg Shelayev.

Once again hearts were in mouths but this time skipper Barry Ferguson, who enjoyed a splendid first half, slid in to block.

Every now and then Ferguson, Fletcher or Paul Hartley would emerge from midfield with the ball at his feet and attempt to engineer a forward raid and there were times when Scotland looked threatening.

Fletcher really ought to have done much better in the 14th minute when Hartley sent him in behind the Ukrainian defence after pouncing on a misplaced Anatoly Tymoshchuk pass.

Fletcher found himself darting in on keeper Oleksandr Shovkovskyy and could have let fly but, with the angle tightening, opted instead to cut a poor ball back for Miller and watched as it was scrambled clear. It really was a great chance.

But most of the time Scotland players were scurrying into tackles and blocks, desperately trying to keep Ukraine out.

Kalnychenko headed only an inch or two over the top and then the dangerous Andri Voronin came within a toenail of sneaking on to the end of a fizzing Shevchenko shot deep inside Scotland's box.

And yet Scotland were still holding out.

There was one major scare before halftime, however, when Pressley lunged at a through ball but came up short and Voronin stayed on his feet to scamper through.

The Bayer Leverkusen star looked a certain scorer to everyone except Gordon.

As Scotland's fans winced in expectation the Hearts keeper stayed on his feet, narrowed the angle and then got down superbly at his left-hand post to make a breathtaking save.

But at the start of the second period it required Shevchenko to misfire twice in one extraordinary minute to keep Gordon's goal intact.

First he popped up inside the box to get on the end of a terrific, flashing move that had cut the Scots open down the left flank.

Pressley made a desperate lunge and blocked Shevchenko's first attempt at goal but the striker stayed on his feet to poke a second effort under Gordon.

Shevchenko then stood and watched in utter disbelief as his effort kissed the base of Gordon's right-hand post before trundling to safety.

The striker was probably still replaying that miss in his head when the next opportunity arrived moments later.

This time, unmarked and onside, he sent a header wide from no more than eight yards. A truly woeful effort.

But Scotland's luck couldn't hold out in the face of such obvious and unrelenting danger.

Even though last Saturday's hero Gary Caldwell made a brave block to stop a fierce Andri Nesmachny volley with his head, a goal was coming.

And, just short of the hour mark, it duly arrived. It was a scrappy, ugly so-and-so too.

Shevchenko, who had been whipping in devilish free-kicks, curled another one towards the edge of Scotland's box. It was almost hacked clear by McFadden but the ball ricocheted off the body Viacheslav Sviderskiy and dropped kindly for Oleksandr Kucher who swept it home from 12 yards.

It was heartbreaking stuff but it forced Scotland to get forward in greater numbers to try to salvage something from the game.

After 65 minutes, Miller almost netted a freakish equaliser when his cross from the right flank smacked off the bar and a post with Shovkovsky beaten.

Smith could see that Miller needed more help and sent for Kris Boyd.

McFadden, who was not making much headway down that left flank, was relieved of his duties.

And then, 10 minutes from time, came the moment that will haunt Miller's dreams perhaps for the next five months until he next pulls on a dark blue shirt.

It was provided by Neilson's wonderful delivery from the right and time seemed to freeze as the ball curled across the six-yard box where Scotland's No.9 was lurking unmarked.

All he had to do was make decent contact and ensure his header hit the target but Miller managed neither.

The ball sclaffed off the corner of the Celtic striker's forehead and squirted wide of Shovkovskyy's right-hand post.

Miller lay flat out inside the box.

After such a heroic shift he did not deserve such misfortune.

But that was Scotland's lot last night as Pressley was about to find out when, five minutes from time, he was shown a straight red card for chopping down Shevchenko.

Caldwell was on hand to retrieve the situation but the referee ignored that fact and sent the Hearts star packing as last man.

He, too, will be missing when Scotland take on Georgia but at least he wasn't out there to witness the final insult as Shevchenko tumbled in a tussle with Neilson to win an 88th-minute spot-kick.

It was never a penalty. Not in a million years.

But Hansson could not wait to make the award and Shevchenko did the rest, beating Gordon from 12 yards.

Taken from the Daily Record