Adam: Positives to be taken
Charlie Adam today acknowledged his disappointment at Scotland's failure to secure a place at Euro 2012 - but insisted there are positives to be taken from their qualifying campaign.
The Scots travelled to Spain for their final qualifier on Tuesday night knowing a victory would guarantee them second place in Group I, although matching the Czech Republic's result in Lithuania would have been enough to secure a play-off berth.
However, Scotland were beaten 3-1 in Alicante, while the Czechs ran out 4-1 victors.
"If we are honest with ourselves we left it too late," reflected Adam. "It's tough going to places like Spain and trying to get three points.
"They are the world champions and it is difficult, but you have to take the positives.
"We created chances and scored a goal. I think we will be a better team when the qualifiers for Brazil come around."
Adam added: "It is hard to take, but we will evaluate everything that happened and sit down as a group of players and see where we can improve and that's the way forward if we want to become a better team.
"You've seen last night that we can pass, move and create chances.
"We now have a squad who is close together and we are looking forward to the future.
"There will be plenty of friendlies before the next qualification campaign begins so the players will go back to their clubs and try to play as well as they can and try to get back in the Scotland squad for the next match."