Scotland Beat North Macedonia 2-0 as Robertson Hits 100 Caps and Pocognoli Claims First Win

Pocognoli’s first win on Robertson’s century night

Scotland beat North Macedonia 2-0 in Skopje on Saturday to give head coach Sébastien Pocognoli his first win in charge, on the night captain Andy Robertson became only the second Scotland men’s player to reach 100 caps after Kenny Dalglish.

Kieron Bowie opened the scoring in the seventh minute with his first international goal, firing into the bottom corner from outside the box after collecting Billy Gilmour’s pass. John McGinn doubled the lead from the penalty spot in the 69th minute for his 22nd Scotland goal.

McKenna red and VAR drama

Scotland were briefly awarded a penalty after Ben Gannon-Doak went down, but referee François Letexier overturned the decision after a VAR review. A second review then awarded a spot-kick when Bojan Miovski was judged to have blocked Bowie’s rebound with an arm after Scott McKenna’s shot hit the post.

McKenna was sent off in the 83rd minute for a last-man foul on Agon Elezi, denying an obvious goalscoring opportunity. Robertson later apologised for the short pass that left his teammate exposed.

Quotes and next fixtures

“It means everything to me, it means everything to my family,” Robertson told BBC Scotland of his 100th cap. Pocognoli said he was “very pleased with this first win” but urged calm ahead of Tuesday’s home match against Slovenia at Hampden Park.

Scotland sit third in League B Group B1 on four points from three games, level with Slovenia and behind leaders Switzerland. North Macedonia remain bottom with zero points and have now gone seven matches without scoring, according to The Guardian.

The visitors dominated, with BBC Sport reporting 25 shots to nine and 10 on target to zero before the late red card. Scotland host Slovenia on Tuesday before further Nations League ties in November.