Midfielder Kim Little admitted Scotland paid for their profligacy after their hopes of qualifying for Euro 2022 ended with a 1-0 defeat by Finland at Easter Road.
The Scots created the better chances, but were unable to find the back of the net against Anna Signeul’s side with substitute Amanda Rantanen scoring the winner deep in injury time.
The result leaves Scotland seven points behind Finland and Portugal with only two games to go and unable to qualify for the finals, which are being held in England.
Arsenal midfielder Little said: “It is incredibly disappointing. That is three 1-0 results and ultimately we have not been good enough and not put the ball in the back of the net.
“We need to take responsibility for that as we had a lot of chances.
“We weren’t clinical enough and qualifying for a European Championships is tough, regardless if you are a top seed.
“Portugal and Finland played good games against us and were able to get the wins.
“Part of my job is to create and score goals, so I’m incredibly disappointed in myself for not giving us that extra edge.
“I’m sure all the girls are feeling the same.
“It was just one of those nights and it is incredibly disappointing to not be able to provide the performance we wanted as a team to give us a chance to qualify.
“We have qualified for the last two finals and we took huge strides as a national team.
“This shows we have taken a step back and it is a bit raw just now.
“We need to reflect on that and do a lot of things better to become more consistent.”
Head coach Shelley Kerr had to watch the match from home after being forced to self-isolate after coming into contact with a positive Covid-19 case.
Assistant Andy Thomson took charge with the help of Scotland under-19s manager Billy Stark and SFA performance coach Paul Brownlie.
The Scots went into the match on the back of successive 1-0 defeats against Finland and Portugal in a major setback to their qualification hopes.
After their recent below-par displays, Scotland produced a more encouraging opening 45 minutes against the Finns.
Little did well to set up Lisa Evans after 12 minutes, but her shot deflected wide before a Jen Beattie header was saved by Everton goalkeeper Tinja-Riikka Korpela in the Finland goal.
The frustrations continued for Scotland five minutes into the second half when Martha Thomas was guilty of heading wide from a perfect Lisa Evans cross when she should have scored.
Some more good work by Little created a chance for Evans but she fluffed her lines at the pivotal moment.
Zoe Ness almost made an immediate impact after replacing Thomas with her turn and shot from the edge of the area superbly clawed away by Korpela.
The Rangers striker had another chance soon after when Korpela made a mess of coming out for a corner but Ness was unable to capitalise.
But the Scots were caught on the counter-attack deep in injury time with Rantanen’s initial shot saved by Lee Alexander but the ball rebounded off the substitute’s face and rolled into the net.
Scotland finish their group games away to Cyprus and at home to Portugal.
