Sebastien Pocognoli secured his first win as Scotland head coach as his side thrashed North Macedonia 2-0 in Skopje, ending a near-record goal drought with a performance that could have produced six, seven or eight goals.
The Belgian had said on Friday evening that soon we would be able to look back and laugh about the drought, and his prediction proved accurate as Scotland finally clicked into gear in the Nations League.
Dominant display from the start
Scotland took the lead after just six minutes when Kieron Bowie collected a smart pass from Billy Gilmour and fired home from 20 yards. The visitors swarmed forward from the first whistle to the last in one of their most emphatic away wins in recent memory.
Andy Robertson, celebrating his 100th cap, was a constant threat down the left, forcing a superb save from Stole Dimitrievski and seeing several efforts go narrowly wide or over. Ben Gannon-Doak, handed a surprise start at right wing-back ahead of Aaron Hickey and Nathan Patterson, also impressed, blazing over from 12 yards and forcing another fine stop from the keeper.
VAR drama and a second goal
Scotland thought they had a penalty when Gannon-Doak was brought down in the box, but VAR overturned the decision. Another VAR intervention spotted a handball by Bojan Miovski, and John McGinn converted the resulting penalty with 69 minutes on the clock.
The only blot on the night came late when Scott McKenna was shown a red card for a challenge on Agon Elezi. Despite the numerical disadvantage, Scotland's work was already done, and the win finally gets their Nations League campaign off the mark.
