SCOTLAND 2 NORTH MACEDONIA 1: John McGinn at the double to spare the blushes of Pocognoli’s shaky Scots on skipper Robertson’s big night

On the night when the nation looked over its shoulder and celebrated the past, the here and now for Scotland looked distinctly uncertain.

Coming 40 years and a day after his friend, Sir Kenny Dalglish, pulled on a Scotland jersey for the 102nd and final time, Andy Robertson joined the great man on a mark which, for years, seemed beyond the reach of mere mortals.

By time up, history had mercifully repeated itself at Hampden. Back in the day, Dalglish, by then player-manager at Anfield, sailed into the international sunset on the back of a routine 3-0 win over Luxembourg.

Facing another opponent of modest ability, Robertson’s red letter day didn’t go quite as smoothly. Yet, when the Tottenham man is old and grey and reflecting on the night he created history, the annals will at least record a slender victory.

While his side did just about enough to prevail here, this was another fraught night for Sebastien Pocognoli.

You can talk about the need for patience under the new manager until the cows come home. But North Macedonia are 71st in FIFA’s rankings. Scotland are 43rd.

At Hampden Park, in front of an expectant crowd, Scotland should be putting them to the sword with something to spare.

Yet, for long enough, the Belgian’s new-look side were flat, predictable and plodding. It said much that it took the intervention of VAR for them to get the penalty which would ultimately lead to three points being accrued.

John McGinn’s second half double saved the Belgian’s blushes and truthfully there was little else to get the Tartan Army off their seats.

Too many big-name players scarcely merited pass marks. Too few looked comfortable in the system the manager is trying to bed in.

If it was a step in the right direction, it was a small one. After five games under the affable Belgian, the progress has certainly not been startling.

While it goes without saying that beating the Swiss in St Gallen on Monday will be an inordinately tougher task, having some hope of moving up a place and securing a kinder draw for the Euros is still better than no hope.

Regardless of what pot they end up in when the draw is made in Belfast next month, a radical improvement will certainly be required across the board if they are to stand any chance of qualifying for the tournament via the front door.

As well as the achievements of Robertson and Dalglish, the career of Craig Gordon was acknowledged before the match with the 84-times capped keeper deservedly afforded a warm hand by the Tartan Army.

There were absolutely no excuses for Scotland here. North Macedonia were a tier-two team in name only. They arrived at Hampden having not won in 12 matches and not scored in eight.

Another Pocognoli game saw another back-three combination. This time Luke Graham was selected in the centre of the unit with Ryan Porteous and Kieran Tierney deployed either side of the Stoke man in what were their first appearances under the Belgian.

Robertson and Ben Gannon-Doak were tasked with providing the width in the 3-4-3. Scott McTominay slotted back into an advanced role beside John McGinn with the returning Che Adams asked to lead the line.

For all there was a healthy crowd in excess of 40,000 inside Hampden, the atmosphere was subdued. In the four Nations League games to date under the new manager, the side hadn’t exactly given the supporters much to feed off.

Despite some big guns returning, Scotland made a laboured start to their night’s work. It said much that Graham, on his second appearance, was busier than any defender in white.

The first opening came as a result of an opposition error. John McGinn found Billy Gilmour who fed the overlapping Robertson. The skipper’s cross was well out of Adams’ reach.

Although Ljupche Doriev worried Angus Gunn with a curling effort, Scotland began to exert some degree of control on the match. Lewis Ferguson kept the visitors hemmed in with a header into McTominay’s feet. The Napoli man saw his shot on the spin well saved by Stole Dimitrievski.

Pocognoli was frustrated when Slovakian referee Michal Ocenas blew for a foul on McTominay, his justifiable gripe being that playing an advantage would have seen Robertson have a crack at goal.

Dimitrievski had a decent night. Although Adams’ flashing header from McGinn’s corner took a deflection, a reflex save at his near post added to Scotland’s frustration.

North Macedonia were a spirited but ordinary side. They still had enough to thwart Pocognoli’s men.

Gannon-Doak saw plenty of the ball down the right, yet the end product often wasn’t there. The Bournemouth man did tee up Billy Gilmour for one dangerous cross. McTominay tried to replicate his iconic overhead kick against Denmark nearly a year ago. This time, his aim wasn’t true.

You could hardly blame Pocognoli’s star man for failing to find the net on that occasion.

That wasn’t the case a few moments later when Adams slipped him in. Dimitrievski saved McTominay’s strike with an outstretched leg when he should have been picking the ball out of his net.

Adams had just blazed a strike high over the top while one-on-one with the keeper although the offside flag saved his blushes.

The visitors came closer to edging ahead when Eljif Elmas played the pass of the match over Scotland’s static defence to pick out Ezgjan Alioski. His lay-off was smashed into the side net by Enis Bardhi.

A wholly uninspiring first-half concluded with Robertson advancing up the left and launching a cross halfway to Castlemilk. This was not going well.

Pocognoli waited on the edge of the pitch for his players returning, his enthusiastic applause clearly audible in the arena.

His hopes of a breakthrough at the outset of the second period were dashed in extraordinary fashion. Adams did well to chase a ball down to the line and cut it back. McTominay and his marker couldn’t connect, leaving Gilmour the simple task of firing into an unguarded net. Leaning back, his failure to even hit the target was unfathomable.

Within seconds, the sense of relief inside Hampden was palpable as the opener finally arrived. Porteous got enough distance on his clearing header for Adams to barge Visar Musliu out of the way.

McGinn was alert to the situation and burst into the box. His crisp strike finally had the beating of the goalkeeper.

It should have settled Pocognoli’s side and paved the way for a comfortable result. Instead, they were pegged back within three minutes.

It was all just so simple and so avoidable. Bardhi’s whipped corner only needed McTominay to outjump his man. Flat-footed as the delivery arrived, he could only watch on in horror as Elmin Rastoder’s flashing header beat Angus Gunn.

Although Gilmour worked the keeper with a low strike, North Macedonia also sniffed a second goal. Time and time again, they got into pockets of space on the flanks and fired in dangerous crosses.

Adams made way for Oli McBurnie, the Hull man desperately hoping for his first goal on his 21st international appearance. He had a gilt-edged chance to get off the mark when rolled in by McGinn, but selflessly passed to the overlapping Gannon-Doak.

The winger appeared to take a heavy touch which allowed the keeper to rescue the situation. VAR, however, spotted that Dimitrievski had impeded him. Penalty.

McGinn did the necessary from 12 yards, smashing the ball straight down the middle for his 24th international goal.

North Macedonia, to their credit, kept going for it. They sensed a fragility in Scotland. Everyone in the ground could.

McGinn’s calm conversion proved to be just about enough to get the job done. But it’s fair to suggest that we are still awaiting lift-off in the new era.

SCOTLAND (3-4-1-2): Gunn; Porteous, Graham, Tierney; Gannon-Doak (Hickey 76), Ferguson, Gilmour (Christie 76), Robertson; McGinn; Adams (McBurnie 67), McTominay. Booked: Ferguson. Manager: Sebastien Pocognoli.

NORTH MACEDONIA (4-2-3-1): Dimitrievski; Ilievski, Mladenovski, Musliu, Alioski; Gashtarov (Elezi 64), Elmas (Stankovski 78); Churlinov (Maleski 64), Bardhi, Doriev (Nikolov 85); Rastoder. Booked: None. Manager: Goce Sedloski.

Referee: Michal Ocenas (Slovakia).

Attendance: 41,585.