Scotland lose 3-0 to Switzerland after Hendry red card; McBurnie earns BBC’s highest mark

Scotland lost 3-0 to Switzerland in a Nations League Group B1 match at Hampden Park in Glasgow on 29 September 2026, after Jack Hendry was sent off early in Sébastien Pocognoli’s first home game as head coach. Ricardo Rodríguez, Nico Elvedi and Zeki Amdouni scored for Switzerland, leaving Scotland to assess a defeat shaped by almost 80 minutes with 10 players.

BBC Sport’s player assessments gave Oli McBurnie Scotland’s highest mark, seven out of 10, for his work as a lone striker after the dismissal. Hendry received two out of 10. Those marks are the BBC writer’s assessments; the separate averages displayed on the BBC page come from readers’ submissions and measure opinion rather than performance independently.

How Hendry’s red card changed Scotland’s match

Hendry brought down Dan Ndoye as the Switzerland forward moved towards goal. Referee Nenad Minakovic initially awarded a penalty and showed Hendry a yellow card, according to Sky Sports and The Guardian. After a video review established that the challenge was outside the area, the decision became a free-kick and a red card. Sky’s match timeline records the dismissal in the 11th minute.

Rodríguez scored from the resulting free-kick in the 12th minute. Scotland were therefore a goal and a player down almost immediately, a combination that forced Pocognoli to change his plans for his Hampden debut. The Guardian reported that he withdrew striker Kieron Bowie and brought on defender Stephen Welsh, keeping a three-man backline as Scotland tried to contain Switzerland.

Amdouni completed the scoring in the 82nd minute after Ndoye cut the ball back to him. The three goals came at different stages of a match in which Scotland were unable to recover from the opening incident: first the free-kick immediately after the red card, then Elvedi’s close-range finish, and finally Amdouni’s late strike.

What Pocognoli and Robertson said after the defeat

Pocognoli called it a ‘frustrating night’ in comments reported by Sky Sports. He said Scotland’s game plan had to be set aside after the early sending-off. His players had tried to stay together and find openings on transitions or set pieces, he said, but Switzerland gave them little away. The Guardian also quoted him describing Hendry’s red card as a setback the whole team had to share.

Captain Andy Robertson told BBC Scotland, in comments carried by Sky, that the dismissal made a difficult contest harder. ‘We hardly touched the ball second half,’ he said, while crediting his teammates for continuing to fight. Robertson said the preparations made during the preceding three days had gone ‘completely out the window’ and that Scotland had to find a different approach during the match.

The defeat followed Scotland’s trip to Slovenia at the weekend and was Pocognoli’s first match at Hampden as Scotland manager. Robertson said the squad would try to remain positive ahead of its next game. His remarks framed the result as a setback for a new manager and squad whose planned approach had been disrupted before it could be properly tested at home.

How BBC Sport assessed Scotland’s players

BBC Sport described McBurnie as having ‘battled impressively’ after Bowie’s departure left him operating alone up front. Its seven out of 10 was the highest Scotland mark in the writer’s assessment. Luis Binks, Scott McKenna, Andy Robertson and Stephen Welsh each received six. The BBC gave Hendry two after his challenge on Ndoye led to the dismissal.

The BBC page also displayed audience averages. McBurnie’s 5.81 was the highest shown for a Scotland player, while Hendry’s was 1.89. Elvedi, who scored Switzerland’s second goal, appeared at 7.03 among the Swiss players. The BBC says the displayed score represents the average of user submissions after its player-rating opportunity closes; those figures should be read separately from its writer’s marks.

Scotland’s next Nations League fixtures

Sky Sports lists Scotland’s next Group B1 match away to North Macedonia on 3 October, followed by a home game against Slovenia on 6 October. Those fixtures give Pocognoli an early opportunity to put the disrupted Hampden performance behind the team. Whether Scotland can establish the approach he had intended to show against Switzerland remains an open question after a match largely played with 10 men.