'It's a process' – Pocognoli sees Scotland progress in first home win

Wait 5 sec.

ShareScotland kept their hopes of a Nations League play-off alive with a 2-1 win over North Macedonia at Hampden Park.Sebastien Pocognoli was thrilled to get a first home win under his belt with Scotland against North Macedonia in the Nations League, but acknowledged it is still "a process".Scotland got just their second victory under Pocognoli, with John McGinn's double earning a hard-fought three points at Hampden Park.Pocognoli's side dominated the first half without causing North Macedonia any real problems, though Billy Gilmour will feel he should have done better when he ballooned over an empty net.Scotland did hit the front in the 54th minute, though, with McGinn beating Stole Dimitrievski one-on-one.However, three minutes later, North Macedonia scored their first international goal since November 2025, with Elmin Rastoder glancing in a near-post header.Scotland eventually snatched all three points thanks to McGinn's 74th-minute penalty. A foul by Dimitrievski on Ben Gannon-Doak initially went unpunished, but a spot-kick was awarded following a VAR review, and McGinn restored their lead with his 24th international goal.Both of Scotland's wins under Pocognoli have come against North Macedonia, with this victory leaving them third in Group B1, but he was happy with large parts of the performance."Yeah, I'm happy with the result; it's a first [home] win," he told BBC Scotland."It's important for the lads because, as I said before the game, we knew that they worked very hard this week to produce and to try to apply the game plan and all the situations that we worked on in training."So, on a positive note, we controlled the game, we created a number of chances, we were quite brave with the defensive line, we created chances for pressing and mistakes from the opponent."It's a process, and credit to the lads that they tried to execute it as best as possible. We followed the instructions and, on the critical way, we should have finished the game earlier, like in Slovenia away, and probably in North Macedonia we should have scored two or three goals more."And [this] is the same, so that's the critical aspect of the game, and we didn't keep the clean sheet, which I think we deserved because we were brave off the ball."I feel that after the first goal, we dropped in terms of concentration, and it is also something that we need to learn. But, overall, I'm happy with the performance."It was a milestone game for Andy Robertson, who earned his 102nd cap for Scotland to move level with Kenny Dalglish at the top of the nation's appearance charts.This was his 48th victory for Scotland, further extending his record as the player with the most wins."It feels amazing for me and my family, it's an amazing achievement," Robertson told BBC Scotland."I've been around here for a long time. I've had highs, I've had lows, I've sometimes had praise and had criticism."I thought we showed glimpses of good stuff. It's not going to be perfect right away, but everything is working towards us going into the qualifiers for the Euros."Obviously, the Slovenia at home game made it unrealistic, or tougher [to qualify]. We'll go over to Monday, and we'll give everything we can to win that game. We're in a position where we have to rely on other results."Scotland face Switzerland away in their last Nations League match, knowing they need a win to stand a chance of earning a League A play-off place.Scotland kept their hopes of a Nations League play-off alive with a 2-1 win over North Macedonia at Hampden Park.Sebastien Pocognoli was thrilled to get a first home win under his belt with Scotland against North Macedonia in the Nations League, but acknowledged it is still "a process".Scotland got just their second victory under Pocognoli, with John McGinn's double earning a hard-fought three points at Hampden Park.Pocognoli's side dominated the first half without causing North Macedonia any real problems, though Billy Gilmour will feel he should have done better when he ballooned over an empty net.Scotland did hit the front in the 54th minute, though, with McGinn beating Stole Dimitrievski one-on-one.However, three minutes later, North Macedonia scored their first international goal since November 2025, with Elmin Rastoder glancing in a near-post header.Scotland eventually snatched all three points thanks to McGinn's 74th-minute penalty. A foul by Dimitrievski on Ben Gannon-Doak initially went unpunished, but a spot-kick was awarded following a VAR review, and McGinn restored their lead with his 24th international goal.Both of Scotland's wins under Pocognoli have come against North Macedonia, with this victory leaving them third in Group B1, but he was happy with large parts of the performance."Yeah, I'm happy with the result; it's a first [home] win," he told BBC Scotland."It's important for the lads because, as I said before the game, we knew that they worked very hard this week to produce and to try to apply the game plan and all the situations that we worked on in training."So, on a positive note, we controlled the game, we created a number of chances, we were quite brave with the defensive line, we created chances for pressing and mistakes from the opponent."It's a process, and credit to the lads that they tried to execute it as best as possible. We followed the instructions and, on the critical way, we should have finished the game earlier, like in Slovenia away, and probably in North Macedonia we should have scored two or three goals more."And [this] is the same, so that's the critical aspect of the game, and we didn't keep the clean sheet, which I think we deserved because we were brave off the ball."I feel that after the first goal, we dropped in terms of concentration, and it is also something that we need to learn. But, overall, I'm happy with the performance."It was a milestone game for Andy Robertson, who earned his 102nd cap for Scotland to move level with Kenny Dalglish at the top of the nation's appearance charts.This was his 48th victory for Scotland, further extending his record as the player with the most wins."It feels amazing for me and my family, it's an amazing achievement," Robertson told BBC Scotland."I've been around here for a long time. I've had highs, I've had lows, I've sometimes had praise and had criticism."I thought we showed glimpses of good stuff. It's not going to be perfect right away, but everything is working towards us going into the qualifiers for the Euros."Obviously, the Slovenia at home game made it unrealistic, or tougher [to qualify]. We'll go over to Monday, and we'll give everything we can to win that game. We're in a position where we have to rely on other results."Scotland face Switzerland away in their last Nations League match, knowing they need a win to stand a chance of earning a League A play-off place.