Scotland will be searching for lift-off under new manager Sebastien Pocognoli at the third time of asking when they travel to North Macedonia on Saturday night.
The Scots played out a goalless draw in Slovenia last week before a sobering 3-0 defeat at Hampden Park midweek to Switzerland.
They’ll be looking to finally get their first goal under their new manager with a trip to a side who sit below them only by virtue of conceding more goals.
Tuesday’s defeat to the Swiss with a harsh lesson for Scotland and their new coach with Jack Hendry’s 11 minute dismissal setting the tone for a miserable night.
Their failure to score also pushed them closer to an unwanted and long-standing record. They have now gone 422 minutes since they found the net (John McGinn’s goal at the World Cup against Haiti). If they do not score within the first 26 minutes on Saturday then they will set a new record run without notching. That has stood since 1971 when the Scots endured 447 score-less minutes across a clutch of games. Scotland have never gone five games without scoring in their entire history.
Despite the current struggles in front of goal, Belgian Pocognoli remains adamant the tide will turn – hopefully in Skopje on Saturday night.
“I don’t know why I would be affected,” he said. “We had a good feeling after Slovenia, we had a good feeling at the start of the Switzerland game – the first eight minutes we were there (in the game) and were just waiting to take some control back from Switzerland. (Because of the red card) we did not have that moment. We just need to stay calm and not overthink things, especially the players. We have to go from Macedonia and start from zero and try to do what we tried to do against Switzerland.”
Andy Robertson is set to win his landmark 100th cap for the Scots and would become only the second player to do so. The other person to achieve so was Kenny Dalglish who ended his international career with 102 caps.
