Scotland lost 3 1/2-1 1/2 to England on a day when top seeds and hosts Ireland surprisingly went down by a similar scoreline to Germany, the last of the eight qualifiers for the top flight of the European senior women's amateur team golf championship at Dun Laoghaire.
In the semi-finals it will be England v Germany and Spain and France v Italy.
Italy, the No 7 qualifiers, beat Sweden, the defending champions and second seeds, 3-2.
Scotland's only winners in a match decided over one foursome and four singles were the alternate shot pairing of Heather Anderson (Alyth) and Fiona Hunter (Baberton). They beat Christine Stirling and Lucy Newton by 2 and 1.
In the singles, Mary Smith (Tain) lost by 2 and 1 to Chris Quinn, Fiona De Vries (St Rule lost by 4 and 3 to Janet Melville and Moira Thomson (Gullane Ladies) lost by 3 and 2 to Sue Dye.
Lorna Bennett (Ladybank) had a square match with Jo Ashmore.
The best that Scotland can now achieve is fifth place and the first hurdle to be cleared in that direction is a strong Ireland team who will be smarting after their unexpected reverse on home turf.
Go to the East Vets Website for a very good report
