Relieved Scotland avoid unwanted record on landmark night for old and new players

However, there won't be many better goals in Nations League fixtures anywhere on the continent than Kieron Bowie’s opener as Scotland ended their own drought in style.

Sebastien Pocognoli's tenure has lift-off in Skopje. John McGinn’s successful conversion of a penalty after 69 minutes put him level with Lawrie Reilly at fourth in the all-time scoring list with 22 goals.

It was given for a handball against Rangers striker Bojan Miovski and came shortly after Scotland endured the deflation of having a penalty overturned following a VAR review. Ben Gannon-Doak was judged to have made the most of Matejib Gashtarov’s challenge, although it did look as if the 20-year-old livewire had been tripped by his opponent.

Scott McKenna’s red card, mercifully issued much later in the game than the one shown to Jack Hendry in Scotland’s previous outing, did not impact the result. It does mean the defender, an ever-present under Pocognoli, will miss Tuesday’s home clash against Slovenia.

At least skipper Andy Robertson’s landmark 100th cap was not tarnished by a result that would have left the new manager in a spot of bother and Scotland struggling to reach their objective of a top two place in the group.

North Macedonia already look done. Their goal drought stretched to seven games. Under pressure manager Goce Sedloski was unhappy enough to make a double substitution just 30 minutes into the game. Pocognoli, meanwhile, can breathe a little easier.

The Belgian awarded another new cap towards the end when Luke Graham replaced Billy Gilmour as Scotland sought to see out the game with ten men. McKenna’s dismissal was the only low point. The defender was undone by a poorly placed pass by centurion Robertson. McKenna was forced into a last-ditch tackle on substitute Agon Elezi, and his follow-through was deemed dangerous.

Scotland avoid an unwanted record

The game within the game scenario meant Scotland were under immediate pressure from kick-off. They knew, because the pre-match build-up was full of it, that they needed to score in the first 25 minutes to avoid falling into worst-ever run without a goal territory. The longest stretch stood at 477 minutes, in 1970-71. Scotland avoided setting a new record with around 18 minutes to spare.

Bowie seemed like a man possessed. Perhaps he was terrified of being hauled off just 11 minutes in, as happened in his full debut against Switzerland last week when he was ‘sacrificed’ following Hendry’s red card. If something similar had happened here he already had his goal.

He took just seven minutes to find his range and score Scotland’s first goal since McGinn’s deflected World Cup strike against Haiti.

The assist will be recorded as coming from Gilmour but even the talented midfielder will admit he had little to do with it. The Napoli player made a fairly straightforward pass towards Bowie, who was about 25 yards from goal. Bowie still had everything to do, navigating past two North Macedonian defenders before rifling into the corner of Valencia keeper Stole Dimitrievski goal. It certainly made up for those misses against Slovenia.

Bowie failed to convert a far easier chance later in the half when, after evading a stranded Dimitrievski, he managed to hit a covering defender with his shot. Gannon-Doak, who started at right wing-back, will also know he should have done better than lash high over after a cutback from Bowie, who had performed more fine hold-up play.

The front two, with Oli McBurnie working his socks off a little behind Bowie, made life hard for the hosts until half-time, after which the Hull City forward stayed inside. What will it take for him to get off the mark? McBurnie has already spoken about taking anything at this stage, even something off his backside. That’s now 19 games without a goal – even though this was only half of one in truth.

Ryan Christie replaced McBurnie. “Robbo 100 legend” was the simple message on a banner held up by Scotland fans before kick-off. Not only was he winning his 100th cap, just to the second player to do so after Sir Kenny Dalglish, but he was also captaining the side for the 75th time. The next man on this particular list, George Young, did so 48 times.

It looked like he was intent on writing himself into history in another context. Has any Scotland player scored a hat-trick in the first ten minutes of a match before?

Robertson had three good chances to augment an already significant occasion with a goal. He sent his first opportunity to shoot, after just four minutes, high over and then saw Dimitrievski tip a more accurate and crisply hit effort over 60 seconds later. His best chance was just a minute after Bowie’s goal following McGinn’s long ball out to the left. Robertson did well to outmuscle a Macedonian defender before rolling the ball the wrong side of the far post. McBurnie was waiting in the middle. After seeing it again, Robertson might reflect helping his pal get off the mark may have been the wisest option. But no one was going to argue with the skipper, who received a No. 100 North Macedonian shirt from the hosts before kick-off.

England’s 7-0 frolic against Croatia a little earlier had served to make Scotland’s recent woes in front of goal seem even starker. Indeed, their fans had even taunted the Croats with a chorus of “Are you Scotland in disguise?” Rivalries aside, it’s North Macedonia no one wants to be compared to – or lose against.

Relief was the dominant emotion afterwards as Scotland got back on track in a place where they have slipped up before.