Sebastien Pocognoli said there was plenty to build on from a goalless draw against Slovenia in Ljubljana despite failing to win his first game as Scotland head coach.
The 39-year-old Belgian, who replaced Steve Clarke in August following Scotland’s winless exit from the World Cup, saw his side frustrated by an inspired Jan Oblak performance in goal.
A sluggish opening 45 minutes was arrested only by Robbie Ure’s near-miss late in the half, the debutant cutting inside from a McGinn pass and clipping the outside of the post.
Scotland emerged for the second half transformed, dominating possession and creating several clear chances that Oblak denied.
Oli McBurnie, brought back into the fold after five years in the international wilderness, was presented with the clearest opportunity, rounding the Atletico Madrid goalkeeper only to be closed down before he could shoot.
Billy Gilmour’s low drive was then palmed away by Oblak, and Kieron Bowie failed to convert when left alone in the box.
Pocognoli acknowledged the two very different halves his side had produced.
“I think we had two games in the same game, but you can analyse in a positive way both of them,” he told BBC Scotland.
“First half was not what we expected in terms of structure. We were in between for the press, actually we were a little bit surprised about the formation of Slovenia, but at half-time we fixed this and you can see that the second half was much better.
“We produced what we wanted to show every minute, but first half we learned to stick together, to defend the box, to be resilient and to be patient to change the game.
“We were also challenging about set-pieces, after five minutes we had many set-pieces to defend in, so that’s the positive way to look at the first half. It was not always positive, but in the second half we had a game on the ball against a low block.
“So we had a lot of good movement through the side, through the lines and we should have scored to be honest. But the counter-press was good, the high line of the defence was good, just because the position of the players was better. Clean sheet, that’s also positive. But we want to win. I think we can take this positively.”
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