Scotland's World Cup dream ended as a late Eljero Elia goal gave Group Nine winners Netherlands victory
despite a brave effort from George Burley's side.
Dirk Kuyt struck the Scots' post early on, while Kenny Miller fired against the Dutch crossbar.
A Steven Naismith shot struck a Dutch post and Miller's effort on the rebound was saved by Michel Vorm.
But the Dutch made it eight wins out of eight when Elia pounced on David Weir's mistake to run clear and score.
And so the dream died with nine minutes left on the ninth day of the ninth month of 2009.
It had been a terrific performance by the Scots, but Elia's strike meant that Norway clinched the runners-up spot after their 2-1 victory over Macedonia - and raises question marks about the future of manager Burley.
Both sides had been forced to do without their first-choice goalkeepers, Scotland's Craig Gordon and Holland's Maarten Stekelenburg failing fitness tests earlier in the day.
David Marshall came into the home side after losing 11 goals in his previous three internationals and nearly conceded another within minutes of the kick-off.
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Interviews - George Burley, Darren Fletcher and David Weir
Kuyt fired a snap shot from 20 yards that struck the outside of the far post before the ball bounced clear.
Scotland soaked up that early pressure and ought to have opened the scoring after nine minutes.
Alan Hutton's superb early cross found Scott Brown sneaking unmarked into the box, but the midfielder skewed his half-volley just wide from eight yards.
Wesley Sneijder had recovered from an injury picked up against Japan to start for the Dutch and forced Marshall into his first save after 24 minutes with a 22-yard drive that the keeper did well to turn over the crossbar.
That sparked the visitors into life and Scotland were split open by a fine through ball from Robin van Persie, but Marshall did superbly to block Arjen Robben's low effort from 14 yards.
The home side responded and Miller fired a volley off the underside of the crossbar from a difficult angle wide on the right.
Naismith, playing wide on the right in his first Scotland start, had the ball in the net off the far post but was pulled up for offside - a narrow but probably correct decision.
The Rangers forward struck the post with his next effort after 38 minutes, his low drive being turned on to the post by Vorm and Miller should have found the net from eight yards only for the goalkeeper to recover and turn the ball to safety.
despite a brave effort from George Burley's side.Dirk Kuyt struck the Scots' post early on, while Kenny Miller fired against the Dutch crossbar.
A Steven Naismith shot struck a Dutch post and Miller's effort on the rebound was saved by Michel Vorm.
But the Dutch made it eight wins out of eight when Elia pounced on David Weir's mistake to run clear and score.
And so the dream died with nine minutes left on the ninth day of the ninth month of 2009.
It had been a terrific performance by the Scots, but Elia's strike meant that Norway clinched the runners-up spot after their 2-1 victory over Macedonia - and raises question marks about the future of manager Burley.
Both sides had been forced to do without their first-choice goalkeepers, Scotland's Craig Gordon and Holland's Maarten Stekelenburg failing fitness tests earlier in the day.
David Marshall came into the home side after losing 11 goals in his previous three internationals and nearly conceded another within minutes of the kick-off.
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emp_load.getEmpEmbeddedParams("emp_8247622");
Interviews - George Burley, Darren Fletcher and David Weir
Kuyt fired a snap shot from 20 yards that struck the outside of the far post before the ball bounced clear.
Scotland soaked up that early pressure and ought to have opened the scoring after nine minutes.
Alan Hutton's superb early cross found Scott Brown sneaking unmarked into the box, but the midfielder skewed his half-volley just wide from eight yards.
Wesley Sneijder had recovered from an injury picked up against Japan to start for the Dutch and forced Marshall into his first save after 24 minutes with a 22-yard drive that the keeper did well to turn over the crossbar.
That sparked the visitors into life and Scotland were split open by a fine through ball from Robin van Persie, but Marshall did superbly to block Arjen Robben's low effort from 14 yards.
The home side responded and Miller fired a volley off the underside of the crossbar from a difficult angle wide on the right.
Naismith, playing wide on the right in his first Scotland start, had the ball in the net off the far post but was pulled up for offside - a narrow but probably correct decision.
The Rangers forward struck the post with his next effort after 38 minutes, his low drive being turned on to the post by Vorm and Miller should have found the net from eight yards only for the goalkeeper to recover and turn the ball to safety.
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