Scotland head coach Sebastien Pocognoli has insisted he will stand by Ben Gannon-Doak as the 21-year-old continues to adapt to a new role in the national side.
The Bournemouth winger delivered another subdued display on Friday night as Pocognoli's team edged to an unconvincing 2-1 Nations League win over North Macedonia at Hampden.
Wing-back role and penalty impact
Gannon-Doak has been deployed as a makeshift wing-back to fit Pocognoli's preferred tactical system, and the £25m man has so far struggled to settle into the position. However, he did win the penalty that allowed John McGinn to score the winner from the spot.
Pocognoli remains confident that the youngster can develop into a regular game changer for the national team.
Pocognoli's backing
"As long as he is high on the pitch - and is creating one vs ones - I am happy. Everything I say happens," Pocognoli said.
"With Ben, we know that he is at a young age and needs to work on specific things. He had great opportunities. We know that he needs to improve on the end product.
"But he created a penalty and against Slovenia and North Macedonia away he created a number of unbelievable one v ones. He did that last night as well.
"We know he can be good if we dominate the game and he can get in good positions if we control the ball. I am happy with his performance."
Experience and development
Pocognoli believes Gannon-Doak will improve with experience, saying: "He is a young lad, just 21. Okay, he has become more mature than he was.
"But I believe in one moment he will have a click about decision making. I believe if he is playing every game he can make many decisions.
"He will know that in the next game he will have to do it again. If he knows that he only has to play a game every two weeks sometimes he can think, 'This is my moment,'.
"It is a process. He will become older and at some point will become relaxed in his decision making. But at this very young age what he is producing is very good.
"My impact on him is just the relationship. I say exactly the same thing to him after training on the pitch. I say, 'Ben, this is the next step.' He knows that and it is important he knows that."
