Sebastien Pocognoli secured his first Scotland win at the third time of asking as captain Andy Robertson became just the second player to reach 100 caps. The head coach insisted there was no extra pressure after drawing a blank in their opening two Nations League games, but he and the players silenced some critics with a strong performance in Skopje despite a second red card inside a week as they beat North Macedonia 2-0.
Robertson missed two brilliant chances before Kieron Bowie - hooked after Jack Hendry's early sending off against Switzerland in midweek - smashed the ball into the bottom corner to earn his first international goal and Scotland's first in over 420 minutes.
Play was stopped by a dog running onto the pitch before Scotland continued to dominate with Bowie, Robertson and Ben Gannon-Doak going close before the break. Scotland were awarded a penalty when Gannon-Doak went down in the box after half-time, only for the referee to overturn his decision after being called to the monitor.
VAR did then award the visitors a penalty soon after. Rangers striker Bojan Miovski was judged to have stopped Bowie's rebound with his arm after Scott Mc Kenna hit the post. Questions had been asked about John Mc Ginn's Scotland future but the Aston Villa skipper sent the 'keeper the wrong way to double their lead. It was his 22nd goal for his country.
Source: Sky Sports Champions League · Summarized by HeadlinesBriefing