Amid a glut of efforts from Robertson, Gannon-Doak blazing over, and another Bowie close call, there was a brief interlude as a dog meandered on to the park.
A bit like Scotland, he managed to circumnavigate the North Macedonian defence before darting off.
In the second half the onslaught continued. Gannon-Doak fluffed his lines while straight through in the biggest chance, before he was sent tumbling in the box.
A penalty was given, before a prolonged video assistant review overturned it.
However, Scotland would get their chance from the spot. In a frantic scramble during which Scott McKenna headed off a post, referee Francois Letexier was sent to the monitor.
Confusion swirled about the cavernous Todor Proeski Arena, before the official pointed to the spot for a Bojan Miovski handball.
McGinn, who scored Scotland’s last goal before this game, in Boston against Haiti, sent Dimitrievski the wrong way.
For the second game in a row, though, the Scots would finish with 10 men.
This time, it was McKenna’s rash challenge on the advancing Gjorge Dzhekov which triggered it, with Pocognoli’s team hunkering down for the last 10 minutes.