Two going on four, five or six on good night for new Scotland era

When Scott McKenna was sent off late in the night in Skopje, North Macedonia did something they looked entirely incapable of doing for 80-plus minutes spent buried in Scotland's collective pocket.

They strung a couple of passes together, had a few shots, raised an odd cheer from their dismally small support.

Fair play to them because for much of this Nations League game it looked as if they were comatose; out-played and out-fought. Scotland, with their energy and urgency, had reduced them to the ranks of the lifeless.

Skopje is a city of statues, two or three hundred of them apparently, great big things in squares and in fountains commemorating tsars and dames, emperors and warriors, royalty and revolutionaries.

You could have taken any 11 of them off their perch and put them in the North Macedonia starting line-up and they'd have posed Scotland more of a challenge than the beleaguered home team managed for most of this encounter.

At one point in the first half a dog ran on to the pitch. They'd have been better off putting a shirt on his back. At least he'd have had some bite.

The scoreline does a terrible job in capturing what happened.

Scotland had 25 shots to nine, 10 on target to zero. Before McKenna walked, they had touched the ball 37 times in North Macedonia's penalty area, North Macedonia had touched it twice in Scotland's.

On the night that Andy Robertson won his 100th cap, this was one of his most straightforward matches of all. A stroll. A rout, if two goals can be called a rout.

Two going on four and five, maybe six on what was a poor pitch in a soulless stadium, save for the visiting fans, who made a racket, as ever. It was a good evening for the new era.

Scotland were exciting, entertaining and also frustrating. They had ambition but not enough execution. They created chance upon chance but didn't have the killer touch nearly as often as you'd like. That might come as things progress.

Certainly, a burden was lifted off the head coach, Sebastien Pocognoli. No more chat about the search for the elusive goal, no more of that creeping negativity as he waited for a first win. The air is a touch lighter for him now as he prepares for Slovenia at Hampden on Tuesday.

It was a big occasion for Robertson the centurion; a major achievement in the career of Kieron Bowie, who rifled in a terrific early goal that settled everyone down; a memorable experience for Luis Binks, Stephen Welsh and the substitute Robbie Ure, who now know what it feels like not just to play for their country but to win for their country. Binks and Welsh look at home in that Scotland defence.

There was a strong sense from the start that everything would be OK for Scotland and it came in the shape of the Duracell Bunny that was the captain.

Robertson began like a dervish. A shot after five minutes, then another and another and another. Four shots in 13 minutes - he's never had four shots in 90 minutes in any one of his 99 caps before Saturday.

There was positivity for Scotland from early on.

They had six shots in 15 minutes, the most picture-perfect of them being Bowie's strike. Oli McBurnie did some work beforehand - his wait for a goal goes on, 19 caps and counting - then the wonderful Billy Gilmour got involved.

Is Gilmour a six or an eight? The truth is that he's both, a tempo-setter when dropping deep, a dangerous passer when moving forward, a complete footballer at the peak of his powers.

Then it was all about Bowie. His footwork did for a defender, his accuracy did for a goalkeeper. It was a rare moment of precision in front of goal, another illustration that despite their issues in scoring goals, Scotland have a promising array of strikers these days. Time, and the confidence of this victory, should make them better.

Ben Gannon-Doak turned North Macedonia inside out and upside down. He is woefully short of minutes for his club, Bournemouth, and lacks sharpness and ruthlessness as a consequence. His delivery has always lacked accuracy.

His raw materials, though, are exhilarating. His pace, his involvement, his number of touches, his chances.

He never left North Macedonia alone. They survived only because he blasted over with one of his chances, shot tamely with another, lost composure with a third one. Having tormented North Macedonia, he allowed them off the hook, but he was a one-man thrill-fest.

He's 20, that can't be forgotten. He's going to be around for a lot of years and will play a heap of big games, but with his club he's got some decisions to make.

Two minutes against Liverpool, 19 against Sociedad, eight against Brentford, one minute against Newcastle and Man City. The only game he has started this season was a League Cup tie against Lincoln.

Bournemouth is a tough team to get into, but he needs more time on the grass, more opportunity to develop. Maybe a loan move in January would make sense for him, if his club allows him to go. A big 'if'.

That's a situation Gannon-Doak needs to resolve for himself - and for Scotland.

The chances flowed - one thunderbolt from the influential John McGinn, one near-miss from Bowie after excellence from Gannon-Doak, one off a post from McKenna.

A second came via the penalty. McGinn lashed it home and drew alongside Lawrie Reilly on the all-time list - 22 and counting.

After some indifferent performances, that one would have meant an awful lot to him, a strike to silence some mild questioning of his impact, a goal to put the confidence back in him, if it ever left.

Pocognoli has something to build on now, three points to go with that strong second half against Slovenia a week ago; new players, aggressive football, a bit of buzz. North Macedonia were hopeless but it hardly matters. They were put away comfortably.

In this series of footballing sprints, there's just one of the original four games to go now - Tuesday at Hampden. Promising signs but so much still left to do.