Scotland manager Sebastien Pocognoli praised his side’s resilience after Jack Hendry’s early red card set the stage for a tough 3-0 defeat to group favourites Switzerland at Barclays Hampden.
The turning point came in just the 11th minute when Hendry dragged down Dan Ndoye as the last man, leaving referee Nenad Minakovic no choice but to dismiss the defender. Ricardo Rodriguez rubbed salt into Scottish wounds by expertly curling home the resulting free-kick, before second-half strikes from Nico Elvedi and Zeki Amdouni put the tie beyond reach.
Despite facing a mountain to climb, Pocognoli drew encouragement from his team’s fighting spirit.
“They worked with 10 men for 80 minutes, maybe more; they showed great character to stick together for that time,” Pocognoli said.
“It’s not easy against a good team to be with 10 men. It will be more about the reaction because we were so excited to start this first page of the book at home. We were ready to deliver the game we wanted from the first minute. We had an unlucky red card, punished with a free kick; that’s the worst scenario.
“We could probably manage the situation better; that’s a fact. We create a press where we get the ball back but from a transition we concede another transition. We could probably defend better. We have to fight with 10 men; the guys did the best they could, and hopefully we will remember this night differently later on. We have to move on and get a good result in Macedonia.
“We feel sorry for Kieron [Bowie]; it’s not something we wanted to do [substituting him early], but we had to be smart to keep us alive as long as possible in the game.”
Pocognoli is still awaiting the first goal of his Scotland reign following back-to-back blanks against Slovenia and Switzerland. However, with two matches remaining in Group 1 of Nations League B, the Belgian is keen to focus on the bigger picture.
“I’m proud because you can collapse in that moment and maybe lose two or three more goals, because they are a team that doesn’t give the ball away cheaply,” he added. “We didn’t have a lot of set pieces to maybe have a bit of luck.
“I had a good welcome; it’s just frustrating because I said before the game I want to have a good game. Hopefully this will be a nice night to remember in the future as part of the process.”
Scotland now travel to Skopje to face North Macedonia at the Nacionalna Arena Toše Proeski on Saturday evening, seeking their first win of this Nations League campaign.
With the hosts also goal-starved and reeling from five conceded in their opening fixtures, victory is essential for Pocognoli to kickstart his tenure and win over the Tartan Army.
