‘I’ve still got many years to go’ – McGinn moves closer to Scotland’s all-time scoring record

John McGinn praised Scotland for “small flashes” of improvement following his brace in their 2-1 Nations League victory over North Macedonia. The Aston Villa midfielder was the star of show, netting twice in the second half to hand Sébastien Pocognoli his first Hampden win. It was relief for the new Scotland manager, who had suffered bruising defeats to Switzerland and Slovenia in his opening home games.

The performance was still unconvincing against a North Macedonia side that remain on 0 points in the group. McGinn compared Pocognoli’s slow start to how Aston Villa began their campaign, but insisted they must believe in their new manager’s vision for the team. “We’re playing a very different style. It reminds me a lot of my club team at the start of the season,” McGinn told the BBC. “It’s important that everyone sticks together and sticks to what we’re trying to build towards. Small flashes of what we’re trying to do came through. “At times it wasn’t pretty, but it was an important win.” Scotland still have an outside chance of finishing second and entering the Group B promotion playoffs. Pocognoli’s team must win away against group leaders Switzerland, and hope that Slovenia do not beat North Macedonia. “We’ve got this Nations League to use as a building block towards the qualifiers,” McGinn added. “We need to show a bit more belief. We’ve got good young players that can come in and make an impact. We need to be more positive and play forward.” Scotland captain Andy Robertson earned his 102nd cap, equalling Sir Kenny Dalglish’s appearance record, while McGinn’s brace brought him up to 24 goals in a Scotland shirt, putting his tally level with Hughie Gallacher and six away from Denis Law and Dalglish’s joint-scoring record. “It’s been in the back of my head but obviously results haven’t been the way we’ve wanted,” said McGinn. “The team comes first. If I start climbing that table it means we’re being successful as a team. “It’s been a bit of a dry patch for me on the goal front in the past year or two, so I’m obviously delighted and hopefully the same again on Monday. “I feel good and I’ve still got many years to go. The first priority is getting Scotland back to another major tournament and we’ll take it from there.”