Scotland faced Finland on Friday night in the first leg of their Euro 2024 play-off encounter and the match was a truly horrendous watch.

Neither team created much in the way of opportunities over the course of the 90 minutes, particularly Scotland who struggled to string three passes together throughout the duration of the contest. Centre-backs Jenna Clark and Sophie Howard played well, with the latter deservedly earning player-of-the-match honours, while Eartha Cumings made a very good early save when it looked like she was going to be beaten from distance. And that was about it.

Now they face an uphill battle going into the second leg in Helsinki on Tuesday evening. Finland haven't lost a competitive game at home in over two years and will go into the tie with confidence, knowing that if anyone deserved to win the first leg at Easter Road it was them. The good news is that Finland's only home defeat over the past 24 months came against Scotland in a friendly last summer, but there were some key Finnish players who didn't start that match, including Tottenham Hotspurs midfielder Eveliina Summanen, who expertly pulled the strings in Friday's stalemate.

Scotland certainly have the quality to go over there and win, but it's hard to feel too confident given what we've seen from this team in big games across the last few years, particularly since Pedro Martinez Losa was placed in charge. The Spaniard was supposed to bring with him a blueprint for cohesive, possession-based, continental football when he was hired in 2021. Instead the team continually looks drab, disjointed and lacking any ideas of what to do when they get into the final third.

There are easy parallels to be made with the final game of his predecessor, Shelley Kerr, where a 1-0 defeat to the same opposition at the same stadium saw the end of Scotland's hopes for Euro 2021 (later rebranded to Euro 2022). While there can be no denying that a 0-0 draw is a better result, Scotland put in a superior performance overall four years ago. The end of Kerr's tenure was marked by strong showings but an inability to turn chances into goals. Under Martinez Losa, in big games, they've largely just struggled to create chances.

On Friday the team was desperate for some inspiration after a lacklustre first half. The introduction of Chelsea Cornet and, in particular, Kirsty Hanson did inject a bit of energy and urgency to Scotland's attack, but when their enthusiasm was quickly swallowed up by the sleep-walking malaise all around them, another plan was required.

The manager then made the decision to replace centre-forward Martha Thomas with teenage prodigy Emma Watson. Now, Watson does have some prior experience playing up front, but she is a centre-midfielder by trade. At the time, one wondered whether Caroline Weir would go to the tip of the attack in a kind of 'false 9' role, which she has performed for club side Real Madrid on occasion. But no, she was kept in the attacking midfield spot while Watson went up front. It was like bringing on John McGinn to play ahead of Scott McTominay at the tip of attack. Watson looked lost and the manager made no move to rectify it.

Typically you would think Martinez Losa will be in a 'must-win' situation on Tuesday if he wants to remain in the job. After all, two play-off defeats in succession to opponents that Scotland have more than enough talent to defeat would typically merit grounds for dismissal. But a strange wrinkle in all of this is the contract extension that Martinez Losa was given last year on the eve of the Nations League campaign, committing him to the job until after the next World Cup in 2027. If the Scottish FA were going to sack him for failing to get to two tournaments in succession, why give him the extension? And if they were truly certain that he was the right man to lead us to qualification, what were they basing it on? The match against Finland on Friday was quite reminiscent of the 1-0 defeat to Ireland which stopped any hope of qualifying for the last World Cup. The only real improvement was that Finland didn't score.

Hard questions should be asked of the Scottish FA and how they've managed to bungle the prime years of so many great players. When the team was announced on Friday, it was plain to see that many players were competing for a place in the Euros for what is likely to be the final time. Howard, Nicola Docherty, Kirsty Smith, Lisa Evans and Claire Emslie are all over the age of 30, while Weir is 29. There's Watson, Clark, Sam Kerr and Erin Cuthbert to give hope that our future prospects will remain bright, but this is a country with enough depth to the talent pool that it should have reached five tournaments in succession. Instead it stopped at two.

But questions won't be asked because it's women football and the national spotlight of attention just isn't there. Interest in the game is very much still lagging behind other European countries. The only way for that to grow is for the team to enjoy success. Instead it's been a series of failures since the 3-3 capitulation to Argentina at the 2019 World Cup, beginning with the decision to keep Kerr in the role despite her laying into the players after the coaching staff had been out for some drinks. If that didn't merit dismissal, will a defeat on Tuesday be enough for the current incumbent to go?

Hopefully Martinez Losa can devise a gameplan which will see us get over the line and back to another finals, even if that plan is to make the second leg as bad as the first, keep it tight at the back and nick a goal at the other end. Unfortunately, recent history tells us that any positive result is unlikely to occur.