George Burley was left still seeking his first win as Scotland manager heading into next month's World Cup qualifiers after being held to a goalless stalemate by Northern Ireland at Hampden.
Previous encounters against Croatia and the Czech Republic had yielded a draw and a defeat respectively ahead of tonight's clash, with a crucial double-header against Macedonia and Iceland looming.
The Scots' cause was aided when Ryan McGivern was dismissed early in the second half, but it was the Irish who could have claimed the win had David Healy successfully converted from the penalty spot.
Positives? Burley was able to name star man James McFadden for the first time since taking over as national team manager, while several players made their international debuts.
McFadden then had a decent chance when he controlled a long ball from Thomson on his chest before squeezing a shot between two white jerseys but the end product was weak and comfortably held by goalkeeper Maik Taylor.
At the other end, the visitors looked dangerous when Chris Brunt slipped a pass through to Healy but his right-footed drive curled just over the crossbar as a disappointing first half ended goalless.
McGivern had looked assured in the left-back berth but the 18-year-old's debut quickly turned into a night to forget when he was sent off with 56 minutes gone for a second bookable offence after hauling down Brown just outside the box.
There was further drama just three minutes later when McGregor conceded a penalty by felling substitute Warren Feeney in the area only to make amends seconds later by diving to his right to pull off an excellent save to deny Healy's spot-kick.
A long-range shot from Graham Alexander than flashed across the face of goal and was touched just wide of the upright by Taylor as Scotland pressed for a late winner but both nations had to settle for level terms as the game ended goalless.
Afterwards Scotland boss George Burley said: "We have a group of players who work hard for each other and they are passionate to do well."
"There are areas we can still improve on but we are going into it in good spirits."
Northern Ireland boss Nigel Worthington was delighted with how his gameplan worked out.
He said: "(It was) a very solid performance. We set our stall out with the shape to try to get something from the game to look forward to the World Cup campaign."
