John McGinn was left frustrated after his first goal for Scotland was rendered meaningless as Russia came from behind to win 2-1 in their European Championship qualifier at Hampden.
The Aston Villa midfielder pounced in the 10th minute after Ryan Fraser's cross from the left was fumbled by visiting goalkeeper Guilherme.
Russia fought back, however, and deservedly levelled five minutes from the interval when captain Artem Dzyuba fired a right-footed drive low past Marshall from 14 yards and the winner came after the break when defender Stephen O'Donnell put into his own net under pressure from Yuri Zhirkov.
After five Group I fixtures Steve Clarke's side remain in fourth place on six points ahead of the visit of leaders Belgium on Monday night, while Russia are second with 12 points, three behind the Red Devils.
McGinn said: "I thought it was going to be a special night.
"I was delighted at the time to break my duck and get the goal I was craving for a long time.
"After that we seemed to drop off and invite Russia on to us and that is not us.
"We proved we are a good team in the first 15 minutes, but it means nothing if you drop off after that and play to their strengths and we got punished.
"It was a mixture of things, maybe we lacked a bit of belief and that is not acceptable.
"We have got to believe we can go and make it 2-0 and 3-0 because if we don't do that we are not going to make any tournaments.
"We know we are capable in there and that is the frustrating thing.
"All the boys are gutted. We know we have messed up and we know what we have to improve on and, if it happens again, hopefully we will be in better position to solve it."
'We know we messed up' - Scots in bother after loss
