John McGinn scored twice as Scotland laboured to a 2-1 win over North Macedonia at Hampden on Friday night, keeping their Nations League promotion hopes alive on the night Andy Robertson equalled Sir Kenny Dalglish's record of 102 caps. McGinn's 74th-minute penalty, given after a VAR review, settled a game in which Scotland had been booed off at half-time with the score 0-0.

It was Sebastien Pocognoli's first home win as Scotland head coach and his second in five games in charge, which makes him the first Scotland manager since Gordon Strachan in 2013 to win more than one of his first five. Few among the crowd of 41,585 went home enthused.

North Macedonia arrived with no points, no goals and 10 conceded from their four group games. Scotland created enough to put them away long before the end. The returning Scott McTominay turned sharply and shot on 16 minutes, but Stole Dimitrievski got down to his left to save. Kieran Tierney headed a Robertson free-kick over, and Dimitrievski was equal to Che Adams' deflected header from a McGinn corner.

McTominay then tried to recreate his overhead kick against Denmark and sent it over the bar, and was denied again by Dimitrievski from a tight angle before the interval. Pocognoli said afterwards that his side had started with low intensity, losing the ball too often and playing long balls for the first 10 minutes, before they grew braver through the lines.

Inside a minute of the restart came the miss of the night. Adams pounced on a loose back pass and squared for Billy Gilmour, who had only to guide the ball on target with the goal gaping. He skied it over the crossbar.

The breakthrough came on 54 minutes. Adams outmuscled his marker and poked the ball into McGinn's path, and the Aston Villa captain raced into the box and curled it into the net.

The lead lasted less than three minutes. Enis Bardhi whipped in a corner and Elmin Rastoder leapt highest to glance a header past Angus Gunn. It was North Macedonia's first goal since 18 November 2025.

Scotland were rescued by the man who had kept them out. With a little over a quarter of an hour left, Dimitrievski brought down the wing-back Ben Gannon-Doak, who seemed to be running the ball out of play. The VAR asked for a review, the penalty was given and McGinn stepped up to score.

There were no more goals, and North Macedonia had Scotland under pressure in the last five minutes, by Pocognoli's own admission. Luke Graham made his first international start, alongside Tierney and Ryan Porteous at the back, and Pocognoli picked him out afterwards.

BBC Scotland's chief sports writer Tom English called the performance really poor and said there was a huge amount of work still to be done. Pocognoli preferred to talk about a process, and said his side had controlled the game but should have finished it earlier.

Robertson admitted the quality was not always there and asked for patience with a new way of playing, built towards the qualifiers for the Euros. Sky Sports said questions would be asked of Pocognoli's insistence on wing-backs and one man up front at home, on a night when a comfortable win was expected.

Robertson's night was his 48th win for Scotland, extending his record for the most, and he should become his country's most-capped player outright on Monday.

The win takes Scotland to seven points from five games, a point behind Slovenia in second, after Slovenia were held 0-0 at home by Switzerland. To finish second Scotland will have to win in St Gallen on Monday and hope North Macedonia do them a favour against Slovenia in their final game.

“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.” — Sebastien Pocognoli, Scotland head coach, to BBC Scotland, via BBC Sport

“At times it wasn't pretty, but it was an important one.” — John McGinn, to BBC Scotland, via BBC Sport

Tijjani Reijnders scored a first-half hat-trick as the Netherlands thrashed previously unbeaten Greece 7-0 in Amsterdam to go top of Group A2. Xavi Hernandez's side led 5-0 at half-time in front of 51,221 at the Johan Cruijff ArenA.

Crysencio Summerville pounced on a defensive mistake to score after six minutes. Reijnders, the former Manchester City midfielder now at Al-Qadsiah, then scored three between the 12th and 33rd minutes: a shot blasted in from Joey Veerman's through ball, a close-range finish from Donyell Malen's pass and a third from a Denzel Dumfries header.

Arsenal's Jurrien Timber scored his first two international goals, from Malen's pass before the break and from Dumfries on 59 minutes, and Malen slammed in the seventh two minutes later.

The unbeaten Dutch lead the group by three points from Greece and Germany, who beat nine-man Serbia 3-1. Germany host the Netherlands in Monday's final game and Greece are at home to Serbia; the top two reach the quarter-finals.

Mauricio Pochettino was confirmed as Manchester United head coach on Friday and broke down in tears at his first news conference, calling the decision to leave the USA "one of the most difficult" of his career. United paid a release clause of about £7.4m. He leads the USA against Haiti tonight and on Wednesday, then starts at Liverpool on 22 November.

Florian Wirtz scored as Germany beat nine-man Serbia 3-1 for Jurgen Klopp's second win in five games as head coach. Srdjan Babic turned into his own net after three minutes, then scored at the right end, and debutant Brajan Gruda, Brighton's midfielder on loan at RB Leipzig, ran from his own half to score. Germany host the Netherlands on Monday.

FC Andorra goalkeeper Jesus Owono has been given the maximum 12-match ban by the Spanish federation after the challenge on 2 November that resulted in the death of Tenerife forward Jesus de Miguel. The committee said it had to base its decision on the referee's report. The abandoned game will not be replayed, and the 2-2 score will stand.

Wales play Norway in Oslo tonight (17:00) looking to beat them for the second time in a month, after a 2-1 win in Cardiff in October. The sides are level on three points at the bottom of Group A4, Wales third on head-to-head. Norway, World Cup quarter-finalists, have lost three in a row for the first time in a decade, and tractors were clearing snow from the pitch at their home stadium on Friday.

Northern Ireland, the only one of the 54 Nations League teams yet to concede, host Ukraine in Belfast tonight (19:45) top of League B2 after four games. Michael O'Neill's young side won away in Georgia and Ukraine and drew 0-0 at home to Hungary and Georgia. They finish in Hungary on Tuesday, chasing promotion to League A.

Republic of Ireland captain Nathan Collins says he felt he left his team-mates "on their own" by missing the two Nations League games against Israel through injury. The Brentford defender is back for tonight's game against Austria in Linz (19:45). Ireland, third in Group B3, finish at home to Kosovo on Tuesday and need two big performances to top the group.