Sebastien Pocognoli tasted defeat in his first match at Hampden as his 10-man Scotland side were comfortably beaten 3-0 by Switzerland in Nations League B.

Defender Jack Hendry was dismissed inside the first 10 minutes for denying a clear goalscoring opportunity when he hauled down Nottingham Forest’s Dan Ndoye – before former AC Milan full-back Ricardo Rodriguez carefully curled the resulting free-kick into the top-left corner from the edge of the box.

This followed a period of confusion around the national stadium in which Serb referee Nenad Minakovic had originally awarded a penalty and shown Hendry a yellow card before his decision was corrected by VAR.

Scotland responded well and fought valiantly despite their numerical disadvantage but were eventually foiled early in the second half when Remo Freuler’s low cross picked out Nico Elvedi who helped the ball into the far corner at the near post.

Burnley forward Zeki Amdouni then completed the scoring in the 82nd minute by stepping onto Ndoye’s cutback and lashing the ball past Scotland stopper Angus Gunn.

The Scots travel to North Macedonia on Saturday then welcome Slovenia to Hampden next Tuesday – still in search of their first victory in Nations League B1.

The key moments from Hampden Park

9: PENALTY TO SWITZERLAND! Hendry brings down Ndoye and the referee points to the spot.

10: NO PENALTY! VAR has taken a look and the challenge was outside the box. But Hendry is sent off.

12: GOAL FOR SWITZERLAND! Well it was not a penalty but what a free-kick! Rodriguez steps up and blasts the ball past Gunn and the Swiss are ahead.

21: SCOTLAND WANT A PENALTY! John McGinn protests that he was being held as the corner is curled in, but it is play on. Andy Robertson then blasts the next corner over the bar.

29: BOOS AROUND HAMPDEN! Oli McBurnie is clipped as he looks to take the ball into the box. Free-kick? No says the referee.

45+1: YELLOW! Pocognoli picks up a booking as he shows his frustration at some of the refereeing decisions.

51: CHANCE! Ndoye sends the ball into the box, but Johan Manzambi cannot get to it in time and it goes past the post.

55: GOAL FOR SWITZERLAND! It is too easy for Switzerland. Elvedi sweeps home Ndoye’s cross to double their advantage. Groans around Hampden.

82: GOAL FOR SWITZERLAND! It gets worse for Scotland. Amdouni gets on the end of Ndoye’s cross and smashes the ball into the net. A tough night at Hampden Park.

‘After eight minutes, game plan had to be put on the side’

Scotland head coach Sebastien Pocognoli:

“Frustrating night, to be honest. Not a lot to say about the game, we can analyse the game with 80 per cent of the game with 10 men.

“Direct finish from the red card with a free-kick, so probably the worst situation that we can have.

“Should prefer maybe a penalty and to stay with with 11 men and to maybe show exactly what we what we planned for the game.

“But we start quite aggressive, front foot and after eight minutes the game plan has to put on the side and just see the team reacting well or not with 10 men.

“They did their best, to be honest. They had the great attitude to stick together, try to have the moment in transition or set pieces or something, but it never happened because Switzerland is a good side as well and they didn’t give anything away.”

‘We have to stay positive’

Scotland captain Andy Robertson speaking to BBC Scotland:

“Your first home game under the new manager, you want to get off to a good start.

“It got off to the worst possible start getting a man sent off early doors. It was incredibly hard with 11 men on the pitch, it was even harder with 10.

“We hardly touched the ball second half, but it didn’t stop the lads from fighting for each other.

“Football is about split second decisions, Jack Hendry has tried to nick the ball. As soon as the referee said it was outside the box I thought we would have been better taking the penalty and the yellow card.

“It’s a difficult night but we won’t try and let it get in the way of our process. We’ve got a new manager and a new squad so we have to try to stay positive.

“Going into the next game we have to try to forget about it.

“I think he [the manager] was proud of the fight that we showed. What we’ve planned for the last three days went completely out the window. We had to rip up the plan and try something else.

“Ultimately I don’t think we’ll take too much from this game in terms of how we want to look as a Scotland team.

“It’s up to everyone to stay positive. I’m proud of how the camp has gone so far we just need to get the results.”

Scotland’s Nations League fixtures

• October 3 – North Macedonia (A) 7.45pm
• October 6 – Slovenia (H) 7.45pm
• November 13 – North Macedonia (H) 7.45pm
• November 16 – Switzerland (A) 7.45pm