Scotland‘s hopes of automatic UEFA Nations League promotion are over following a 2-1 home defeat to Slovenia.
Sebastien Pocognoli’s men were looking to build on their 2-0 win in North Macedonia last time out, and took the lead on the half-hour mark when Ryan Christie bundled home from close range.
But Aljosa Matko slotted into the bottom-left corner in the 56th minute to level matters for Slovenia, who then completed the turnaround as Danijel Sturm capped a fine move down the right-hand side with a simple finish 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 Group 1 in League B with just four points to their name.
And, with Switzerland easing to a 3-0 win over North Macedonia thanks in part to goals from Johan Manzambi and Dan Ndoye, Scotland cannot top the group, their eight-point gap to the leaders an unassailable one with two games remaining.
They are three points behind Slovenia, who occupy the promotion play-off spot in the group. With head-to-head record the tiebreaker, Scotland must better Slovenia’s results over the final two games next month to leapfrog them into that spot.
In League C, San Marino suffered heartbreak as they were denied a famous draw with Albania by a 93rd-minute penalty.
Kristjan Asllani broke the deadlock for Albania in the 11th minute to seemingly put them on course for a routine win against the perennial whipping boys.
But Lorenzo Lazzari stunned the crowd in Tirana when he turned home from Lorenzo Capicchioni’s in-swinging cross.
It looked as if that would be enough to earn San Marino a point, however, there was a crushing sting in the tail for the minnows when captain Fabbri was ruled to have handled in the area 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 1-0 Finland
Estonia 0-0 Iceland
Luxembourg 0-2 Bulgaria
Moldova 0-4 Slovakia
