Ben Gannon-Doak turned North Macedonia inside out and upside down. He is woefully short of minutes for his club, Bournemouth, and lacks sharpness and ruthlessness as a consequence. His delivery has always lacked accuracy.
His raw materials, though, are exhilarating. His pace, his involvement, his number of touches, his chances.
He never left North Macedonia alone. They survived only because he blasted over with one of his chances, shot tamely with another, lost composure with a third one. Having tormented North Macedonia, he allowed them off the hook, but he was a one-man thrill-fest.
He’s 20, that can’t be forgotten. He’s going to be around for a lot of years and will play a heap of big games, but with his club he’s got some decisions to make.
Two minutes against Liverpool, 19 against Sociedad, eight against Brentford, one minute against Newcastle and Man City. The only game he has started this season was a League Cup tie against Lincoln.
Bournemouth is a tough team to get into, but he needs more time on the grass, more opportunity to develop. Maybe a loan move in January would make sense for him, if his club allows him to go. A big ‘if’.
That’s a situation Gannon-Doak needs to resolve for himself – and for Scotland.
