Kieron Bowie scored in a 2-0 Nations League victory over North Macedonia in Skopje to secure his first international goal under new head coach Sebastien Pocognoli, months after missing out on Scotland’s World Cup squad.
On 19 May, Steve Clarke assembled his collection of players to embark on a World Cup journey. Even though Kieron Bowie scored and featured for a Hellas Verona squad sliding toward Serie A relegation, and despite Scotland’s long-standing difficulty in getting consistent goals from their frontmen, Kieron Bowie was overlooked. Clarke’s well-known loyalty to those who had reliably served him previously made that outcome unsurprising. The national team’s lack of attacking threat in the USA—producing a mere single strike courtesy of John McGinn—was similarly unsurprising.
“I received a message from him saying that I’m not in the squad but these things happen and it’s just about how you bounce back from it to be honest. I scored goals in a struggling Verona team and that was as much as I could do. I was happy with where I was at and I was happy with how I’d played. I just spent a lot of time at home with my family and then a little golf holiday to Portugal for a week and that was all I did.”
Kieron Bowie, via Turkeyworldcup
Pocognoli Revamps Scotland With A New System
During the 2-0 triumph against North Macedonia in Skopje, the ex-Hibernian and Raith Rovers attacker emerged as a standout Scottish talisman by sending a deliciously whipped finish into the net. Operating within an adventurous 3-4-1-2 formation devised by Sebastien Pocognoli, Bowie spearheaded the attack alongside Oli McBurnie. Across the entire fixture, his numbers stood out significantly: a team-high seven shots, four attempts on target, five shots inside the area, and 11 touches within the opposition penalty box.
“You play all your life to represent a country and to score a goal is just an unbelievable feeling. This manager’s come in and he’s put a lot of trust in me. I think the style that he wants to play definitely plays into my strengths. I think you’ve seen today a lot of times running them in behind and just showing strength against occupying defenders is one of the main things. It’s a process but I think everyone’s enjoying that process and it’s a bit of a change.”
Kieron Bowie, 24-year-old forward, via Turkeyworldcup
The word process
has been used so many times by the Scotland head coach and his players in recent days it is practically the new team motto. Pocognoli is trying to implement a radically different system to his predecessor, introducing a different mindset all while trying to embed a clutch of new players. It is early days for the Belgian, his group, and Bowie, but the man currently on loan at Sassuolo believes things are clicking.
“It’s a lot longer international break, we spend a lot more time together so it’s good for him to get his message across and his ideas. Also, we play more games so we have to train a little bit less of course. I think for me it’s a fresh start with a new coach and different ideas. He said to me ‘you don’t need to prove yourself, just go and do what I know you can do’ and I feel like I’m just doing that.”
Kieron Bowie, via Turkeyworldcup
Bowie Embraces Serie A Experience
Bowie, who made his Raith Rovers debut at 16, noted that supporters might still hold onto old impressions from his time in Edinburgh. I think people, obviously Scottish fans, have the same idea of how I was when I was at Hibs and that’s all they can remember,
he said. But I feel like since I moved to Serie A, it’s a different league, different challenge and I’m getting more experience at a higher level. So, yeah, I feel like I’ve definitely kicked into another gear and I feel like I’m showing that.
Scotland’s tactics under the new coach began to bear fruit in Skopje as the side adapted to a collaborative, higher-press style, aiming to build momentum through the longer international break after netting only one goal at the World Cup.