Scotland's punisher surprised by Hampden lull amid November warning - ‘it was easier to play here’

The second time the sides have faced each other in the last 11 days, Aljosa Matko cancelled out Ryan Christie’s first-half opener just after the break, but it was the Slavia Prague forward who fired home the winner on 71 minutes for Slovenia to complete the comeback victory.

The result was a hammer blow to Scotland, with Slovenia now in pole position to take second place in Nations League Group B1, and a pit two seeding when the European Championship qualifying groups are drawn in December, while Scotland would drop into pot three for the draw unless they can turn things around in their final two fixtures against North Macedonia and Switzerland next month.

“It was a big win,” said Sturm. “Tonight is pretty high on the list [of career achievements]. It’s a special moment when you score for your national team. It is different scoring for your club. To score for your national team, it’s a special feeling, especially when you win. The win gives us a lot of confidence.

“We had some problems, because we changed the manager, but we had a lot of friendly matches, we’ve done good work and we have put it together in these two weeks we’ve been together. We’re making progress and we can take that into the matches next month. We knew that it would be a hard match and that Scotland are a good team. They played in the World Cup, but today we played well. We were disappointed not to get a point against Switzerland last week, but we kept our heads highs. We came here for the win, and we got that.”

When the two sides met in Ljubljana last month, Scotland left the pitch frustrated that they couldn’t make their second-half dominance count, drawing 0-0 in Pocognoli’s first game in charge. However, Slovenia flipped the script in Mount Florida and took full advantage to claim the three points. Reflecting on the game, the 27-year-old admitted he was surprised by what he experienced at Hampden Park.

“Today was a totally different match,” said Sturm. “It was much harder in Ljubljana. We played at 3pm on that day, where here it was so much cooler. I think tonight [Tuesday] was easier to play. I don’t why, but we felt it was different on the pitch. The atmosphere is amazing here in Scotland, and we know the fans are very good supporters. But I could hear some of our fans during the game, which was quite surprising.

“In the second-half, we had a lot of chances, and we should have scored. But in the end, we scored two and that’s what matters. We had a few chances in the first-half that we missed too, but I think we dictated the tempo in the second-half and deservedly won the game.”

Sign up to The Scotsman’s daily football newsletter to get unrivalled Scottish football news and analysis - subscribe for free here.