At least Scots won the singing

Scotland fans realise their World Cup dream is over

BBC Sport Online's Colin Moffat tastes the atmosphere in the King Badouin Stadium as the Tartan Army continue to sing when they are losing after Scotland's 2-0 defeat by Belgium.

Scotland's World Cup dreams fizzled out in Brussels, but the visitors came out on top in the vocal-backing battle.

Celtic rock versus bland Euro-pop. No contest.

The 12,000 or so Scots in the crowd sung their hearts out from start to finish, easily outdoing the home support and even managing to compete with a public address system that could be heard in neighbouring Holland.

Young and old, men and women, Scots from every part of the country and members of the Caledonian diaspora all gathered to get behind their favourites - and make one hell of a din.

The traditional Tartan Army kilts, inflatable Loch Ness monsters and See-you Jimmy bunnets were out in force and there were so many Rod Stewart look-a-likes it was impossible to spot the real cheeky little cockney rebel among the throng.

One group of attractive young women particularly impressed by all sporting very fashionable 'Craig Brown's Teenage Dirt-bag's' t-shirts.

as the Scotland team continued to huff and puff, making little headway, the Saltires began to sag slightly

One group had gone to the trouble of translating a favourite anthem about the sexual practices of Jimmy Hill on a banner in French.

Many beers were consumed outside the impressive King Badouin Stadium as the footballing ambassadors of two hard-drinking nations mixed amiably and swapped daft hats.

As the bus carrying members of the press made its slow progress through the boozy throng, the hacks on board were greeted with a chorus of boos and a chorus of 'free-loading b......s'.

Daily Record scribe and sometime Radio Scotland analyst, Jim Traynor, appeared to take the brunt of the good-humoured abuse.

The stadium officials won't have to bother cleaning the seats in the Scottish section.

Everyone stood, or rather bounced, their way through the 90 minutes.

However, the athletics track surrounding the pitch meant that much of the noise drifted skywards before reaching the players.

'Flower of Scotland' got several airings, but you'd think by now the fans would have learned the second verse.

Tense silence

The rest of the songs were a little more straightforward.

The Belgians, by contrast, sat in tense silence for the opening stages.

But, when Nico van Kerkhoven fired them in front, an impressive blast of noise rippled round the ground. Some of the locals even stood up to clap.

The travelling support pumped up the volume for the start of the second half in a bid to spur on the boys in blue.

But, as the Scotland team continued to huff and puff, making little headway, the Saltires began to sag slightly.

Those in tartan were roused again when substitute Scott Booth tumbled in the penalty area, but their cries could not influence the man with the whistle.

The dying minutes were a cue for the defiant, yet melancholy strains of 'We'll support you ever more'.

The chance for the Tartan Army getting to Korea and Japan next summer has almost certainly gone and the party will be just that little bit poorer for their absence.