FYR Macedonia vs Scotland 0-2

Scotland left Skopje with a 2-0 win after Kieron Bowie opened the scoring in the seventh minute and John McGinn added a second from the spot in the 69th minute. The visitors were reduced to 10 men late on when Scott McKenna was sent off in the 83rd minute, but they had already done enough.

Bowie put Scotland ahead after seven minutes, finishing from Billy Gilmour to make it 1-0. That remained the half-time score after FYR Macedonia had already been forced into two changes in the 31st minute, with Sebastian Herera replaced by Gjorge Dzhekov and Luka Stankovski by Jani Atanasov.

Scotland were awarded a penalty in the 63rd minute after VAR confirmed the decision for Kieron Bowie, and McGinn converted six minutes later to make it 2-0. FYR Macedonia made another double change in the 62nd minute, but they never found a way through. Scotland also lost Oliver McBurnie to a yellow card in the 6th minute, then withdrew him at half-time, while Ben Gannon-Doak saw a penalty cancelled by VAR in the 51st minute before leaving in the 76th minute.

The numbers leaned in Scotland’s direction despite the home side having 56% possession and 469 passes to Scotland’s 356. Scotland had 25 shots to FYR Macedonia’s 9, put 10 on target to none, and won 9 corners to 1. FYR Macedonia made 6 saves to Scotland’s 0, while both sides were level on 1 offside.

FYR Macedonia picked up five yellow cards, for Jani Atanasov in the 37th minute, Gjorge Dzhekov in the 44th minute, Mario Mladenovski three minutes into first-half stoppage time, Bojan Miovski in the 68th minute and Anes Meljichi in the 80th minute. Scotland had one booking, for Oliver McBurnie in the 6th minute, and McKenna’s red card came in the 83rd minute.