A sluggish opening cost Steve Clarke's side dearly, with Morocco capitalising inside the first few minutes before Scotland spent the next quarter of an hour simply trying to find their footing in the contest.
Once settled, Scotland grew into the game and dominated long spells of the second half, pushing men forward and testing Morocco's resolve without ever quite manufacturing the clear-cut opening that would have salvaged a point.
A late penalty appeal involving Scott McTominay went unawarded, while head coach Clarke pointed afterwards to a separate refereeing moment he felt deserved more scrutiny.
Clarke was satisfied with his team's response after a difficult start.
"I thought we were good. Terrible start but the reaction to that was good. We had to dig in for five or 10 minutes just to get our feet in the game," Clarke told BBC Radio Scotland. "Once we were in the game, we showed we could cause them problems. The disappointment would be that we didn't create the one clear cut chance that would have got us the point."
He praised the resilience his squad has consistently shown.
"This group of players, this squad, have shown that resilience in abundance over the years. They're in there, flat, disappointed, but we've got another chance," Clarke said.
The Scotland boss addressed the contentious moments directly.
"Everybody is talking about the Scott McTominay penalty incident. I actually looked at the John McGinn one, which was 50-50. Some referees would give it, some don't. Sometimes VAR will get involved," he said. "I was a little bit disappointed in the last man foul from Diop on Adams. For me, Che might be clear through on goal. On another day, you might get those decisions."
Clarke insisted his squad remain driven by history within reach.
"This team are ready to go again. We're here to try and do what no Scottish team has done before. We gave it everything tonight, and we'll try and do it again," he said.
Substitute Lyndon Dykes echoed his manager's mixed emotions.
"We're disappointed because we didn't win the game but there was some positives at the end there. We showed good character, and we've still got one more game," Dykes told BBC Scotland. "We were putting on a lot of pressure, being braver and getting bodies higher up the pitch. We were just unfortunate not to get that clear cut chance. We have to perform against Brazil now, but I believe in my team and the manager."
Midfielder Lewis Ferguson was blunt about the difference between the two halves.
"We had the worst possible start, we didn't touch the ball and gave away such a slack goal," Ferguson told ITV. "We were growing into the game, we were starting to feel really comfortable and I thought the second half performance was outstanding even though we've come away with nothing."
Ferguson said the result was a reminder of the tournament's unforgiving margins.
"It just shows you how difficult it is to win a game at the World Cup. I've seen a lot of negative stuff about winning against Haiti but this just shows you how hard it is to win games at the World Cup," he said. "I'm delighted at the response but gutted with the result, the performance probably deserved a point."
Scotland now face Brazil in their final group match, knowing nothing less than victory may be required to keep alive their hopes of reaching the last 32 for the first time in the nation's history.
Excerpt (207 chars): Scotland fell to a 1-0 defeat against Morocco despite a dominant second-half display, with Steve Clarke praising his side resilience and pointing to a contentious refereeing decision after the final whistle.