A Robert Lewandowski goal in the fifth minute of injury time has denied Scotland a chance to progress to the Euro 2016 finals, as Poland claimed a 2-2 draw in Thursday night's Group D qualifier at Hampden Park.
It took the visitors just three minutes to open the scoring, with Arkadiusz Milik playing a through-ball to Lewandowski, who had plenty of time and space to slot the ball underneath David Marshall for the lead.
Adam Nawalka's side continued to control possession on the pitch, with the Bayern Munich striker coming close again in the 11th minute following a cutback from Kamil Grosicki, but he couldn't apply the finish.
Scotland managed to grow into the game as the minutes ticked by, but the visitors were able to threaten on the counter-attack, with Jakub Blaszczykowski firing just wide of the left-hand post on the half-hour mark.
Just as it seemed like the hosts would be lucky to reach the break merely a goal down, they pulled level with the last kick of the first half through Matt Ritchie's ferocious left-footed strike from 30 yards out.
The second half saw both sides rush out of the starting blocks as Marshall kept out Milik's drive a minute after the restart and Steven Whittaker sliced Steven Naismith's cross wide.
Poland then appealed for a penalty just before the hour when the ball hit defender Grant Hanley's hand, but the referee waved for play to continue.
In the 62nd minute, Steven Fletcher saw the ball roll to him on the right of the box, and rather than take a touch, he lashed a first-time effort past Lukasz Fabianski and into the net to give Scotland the lead.
The latter stages of the match were tense for the Tartan Army, with Tomasz Jodlowiec seeing a shot blocked, Lukasz Piszczek blasting an effort over the bar and Grosicki also nodding just over.
In the fourth minute of injury time, just when it looked like Scotland could hold on for the win, Lewandowski tapped home from a rebound to break the home nation's hearts and condemn them to another summer away from an international tournament.
