Scotland boss Sebastien Pocognoli has backed John McGinn to overtake Kenny Dalglish and Denis Law and claim the national team's goalscoring record after the Aston Villa captain's double sealed a 2-1 win over North Macedonia at Hampden. The victory was Pocognoli's first at home since replacing Steve Clarke.
McGinn closes in on record
McGinn's two second-half strikes moved him level with Hughie Gallacher on 24 goals for Scotland, leaving only Dalglish and Law ahead on 30. Dalglish will see Andy Robertson take his cap record on Monday night when the skipper makes his 103rd appearance against Switzerland.
Pocognoli said: "I'm more focused on the collective challenge. But I believe if we can build something nice around the collective, then John will one day break the record. He created a lot of chances through these five games together. It's important but the individual record I always bring in the collective package. And I hope for him that he can reach it."
Hard-fought victory
After taking just four points from his first four games during last month's Nations League camp, the pressure was on the new boss. Scotland started slowly but found some rhythm, only to be thwarted by Valencia goalkeeper Stole Dimitrievski, who made two great stops to deny Scott McTominay and Che Adams before the break.
Seconds after the interval, Billy Gilmour missed an incredible open-goal sitter, blazing over from five yards. McGinn soon settled the crowd, running off Adams' shoulder to roll home the opener on 53 minutes.
Pocognoli was unhappy with his side's reaction to that goal, as Enis Bardhi headed home from a corner moments later. With anxiety rising, Scotland got a helping hand when Dimitrievski went from hero to villain, tripping Ben Gannon-Doak in the box. VAR awarded the spot-kick, and McGinn converted to give Pocognoli his first home win at the third attempt.
Nations League hopes alive
The win moves Scotland onto seven points in the Nations League table, one point behind Slovenia. Pocognoli's men must beat the Swiss and hope North Macedonia can do them a favour in Skopje to finish second and claim a pot 2 seeding for next year's Euro qualifiers.
Pocognoli said: "I'm happy to get the first win at home. To be honest, I think it's important. We knew before the game that it will help to build a winning culture. We end the week with a good feeling."
He added: "But in terms of what we produced on the pitch, I know exactly what we worked on this week. I'm quite satisfied about what I see in some moments of the game, about the work on the ball and off the ball. It was not always perfect, but I know that what we worked in two days' time happened many times today on the pitch. That's for me very important."
Asked where his side needed to improve, he replied: "On many aspects, but as long as we create chances through good football, most of the time I'm happy. I think we started the game not that intense. Why? Because we didn't manage the ball well. Then it became a game where we were chasing the ball for 10 minutes. Then you have the feeling that we don't control the ball. After 10 minutes we started to reach Lewis and Billy through the lines. And then the game became what we expected. We created chances, we isolated Ben in the 1v1. And we had a lot of pressure in the side of Macedonia."
He continued: "After the first goal I think we need to learn not to drop the intensity. Because after the first goal for five minutes I really feel like we dropped the intensity and the focus. And we conceded a goal from a set piece. And we had the same feeling after the second one. So it's something that we need to fix. Do we need to be more clinical? Yes, probably. It's part of the challenge and we are trying to fix for the future."
