Scotlandautomatic expectations UEFA Nations League Promotion ended after a 2-1 home defeat to Slovenia.
Sebastien Pocognoli’s men looked to build on their 2-0 win in North Macedonia last time out, and took the lead on the half-hour when Ryan Christie equalized from close range.
But Aljosa Matko slotted into the bottom left-hand corner in the 56th minute to equalize for Slovenia, who then completed the turnaround when Danijel Sturm finished off a fine move down the right with a simple shot from Matko’s cross.
There were boos at Hampden Park from the home fans as Scotland slumped to a second defeat in four games, leaving them third in League B Group 1 with just four points to their name.
And, with switzerland edging to a 3-0 win over North Macedonia thanks in part to goals from Johan Manzambi and Dan Ndoye, Scotland can’t top the group, their eight-point gap to the leaders unassailable with two games to go.
They are three points behind Slovenia, who occupy the promotion play-off spot in the group. With the record number of head-to-heads in the tie-breaker, Scotland need to improve on Slovenia’s results in their final two games next month to leapfrog them in this spot.
In League C, San Marino suffered heartbreak when they were denied a famous draw with Albania by a 93rd-minute penalty.
Kristjan Asllani broke Albania’s equalizer in the 11th minute to seemingly put them on course for a routine win against the perennial whippersnappers.
But Lorenzo Lazzari stunned the crowd in Tirana when he turned home from Lorenzo Capicchioni’s cross.
It looked like it would be enough to earn San Marino a point, but there was a crushing sting in the tail for the underdogs when captain Fabbri was adjudged to have been sent off in the box following a VAR review, allowing Asllani to rescue Albania and seal a 2-1 win by finding the bottom right corner from 12 yards.
Other League C results
Kazakhstan 2-2 Faroe Islands
Belarus – Finland 1-0
Estonia – Iceland 0-0
Luxembourg 0-2 Bulgaria
Moldova 0-4 Slovakia
