Scotland's brave World Cup battle came to a heartbreaking conclusion after they were defeated by Vitaly Kutuzov's first-half winner at Hampden Park.

Walter Smith had worked wonders with his players drawing with Italy and winning in Norway to bring the nation back into the hunt for the group five play-off place.

But Kutuzov's goal leaves the Scandinavians and Slovenians fighting it out for the lucrative second spot.

Scotland's shock but deserved defeat followed by Norway's 1-0 victory over Moldova meant their dream of going to next summer's finals was officially over.

But the manager's first-half tactics proved to be his downfall as the Sampdoria man netted the winner and spurned a hatful of other opportunities.

He chose to play Lee McCulloch out wide and brought in Christian Dailly and Ian Murray with Jackie McNamara, James McFadden and Andy Webster out.

Kenny Miller was chasing Colin Stein's 36-year-old record of scoring in four consecutive internationals and he tested Vasily Khomutovsky after just 20 seconds.

McCulloch flicked the ball on and the Wolves striker nipped the ball past Igor Tarlovsky but then saw his right-foot shot saved by the goalkeeper from a tight angle.

Murray was following him up from the and he drilled a low right-foot effort towards goal but it struck a Belarus defender and they eventually cleared the danger.

But silence descended on Hampden Park in the sixth minute when Belarus snatched the lead after some great build-up play.

Denis Kovba and Timofei Kalachev exchanged passes and the ball broke kindly off Dailly and into the path of Kutuzov, who calmly slotted the ball past Craig Gordon.

McCulloch's height caused Belarus problems throughout but it was his cross which put Belarus in trouble.

He threw the ball towards the back post and Andrei Lavrik had to sprint to head behind the post with Darren Fletcher lurking to pounce just behind him.

But moments later Belarus should have extended their advantage after superb vision and quality from Hleb.

He played a one-two with Kutuzov and sent him clean through with a great reverse pass but the Sampdoria man curled his right-foot effort just past the angle with Gordon beaten.

The crossbar saved the Scots from further misery in the 31st minute after more poor defending.

Hleb's inswinging corner came towards Murray but the ball skimmed off his head and fell to Kutuzov, who had time to control the ball before shooting right-footed against the bar.

The home crowd found their voices at the interval and Smith also made a change with Shaun Maloney coming on to make his senior Scotland debut at the expense of Murray, with McCulloch moving into the centre of attack.

Maloney got on the end of McCulloch's knock-down in the 53rd minute but Lavrik got back to make a vital challenge before Kalachev fired wide at the other end.

But Maloney would have capped his debut with the equalising goal in the 55th minute after Scotland's best move of the match.

Miller beat the offside trap from Fletcher's throughball and his cross was knocked towards goal by the youngster's overhead kick - but McCulloch had fallen on the goalline and stopped the ball rolling into the back of the net, leaving goalkeeper Khomutovsky to jump gratefully on the ball.

But Miller squandered a glorious chance to equal Stein's milestone and more importantly pull his side on level terms on the hour.

McCulloch again flicked the ball to put his team-mate one-on-one with the keeper - but the Wolves striker blasted the ball over from eight yards.

Khomutovsky then had throw himself to his right post to keep out Maloney's curling free-kick and Korytko arrived to put the ball behind for a corner.

Kutuzov had terrorised Scotland all afternoon but again his finishing let him down in the 75th minute as he sliced an effort wide.

Kalachev was the next to waste a great chance after firing wide off the upright from Hleb's throughball.

But even if Smith's men did need something in their last group five game in Slovenia they would have to do it without skipper Ferguson, who was booked for a challenge on Hleb with 11 minutes left.

Kutuzov could have scored six on the day and he went close again in the 84th minute when he headed Hleb's corner inches past the upright.

Miller was refusing to throw in the towel and his speculative overhead-kick brought a save from Khomutovsky, who spilled the ball but gathered at the second attempt.

The Belarus keeper made a great save from Miller late on to deny him his record but that would have done little to cheer him and the nation after another glorious failure.

Teams

Scotland Gordon, Alexander, Pressley, Weir, Murray (Maloney 45), Fletcher, Ferguson, Dailly, Hartley, Miller, McCulloch.

Subs Not Used: Esson, Gary Caldwell, Webster, McCann, Quashie, O'Connor.

Booked: McCulloch, Ferguson.

Belarus Khomutovsky, Kulchy, Korytsko, Ostrovsky, Tarlovsky, Kovba, Bulyga (Sascheko 89), Lavrik, Hleb, Kalachev, Kutuzov.

Subs Not Used: Zhevnov, Shkabara, Cheljadinskij, Kirilchik, Loshankov, Kovel.

Booked: Korytsko, Lavrik.


Ref: Zsolt Szabo (Hungary).