Robbie Ure made his Scotland debut in Ljubljana on Saturday wearing the number 10 shirt. The name above it read simply: Robbie Ure.
Seldom do footballers, particularly from this part of the world, have both their first and last names printed on their shirt, so the sight of ‘Robbie Ure’ rather than just ‘Ure’ became a talking point among the Scottish supporters during a first half they would rather forget. The intrigue had already started in the media box at the Stozice Arena, where Uefa’s official team sheets — listing him as ‘R.Ure’ — began circulating after Sebastien Pocognoli named his first Scotland line-up, which included both Ure and Stephen Welsh for the first time.
Asked about the shirt after his big day, the 22-year-old Sevilla striker gave a straightforward explanation. “A lot of people will just call me, they’ll always say Robbie Ure,” he said. “They wouldn’t just say Ure, so that was a reason. And then, to be honest, I think U-R-E is just so small, I just don’t really like it. So, I put my first name in as well. I’ve got it at club level too, I just prefer it.”
It was form for his previous club, IK Sirius, that earned him a summer move to Spain and, ultimately, his place in Pocognoli’s bold line-up alongside Oli McBurnie. The aggressive, energetic style the Belgian favours asks a great deal of his strikers, and in the three who featured — including Kieron Bowie, who replaced Ure after 67 minutes — Scotland had the legs to do the required work.
Ure, a former Rangers youth player, was left with mixed emotions. “I loved every minute of it,” he said of the Nations League opener, which finished as a draw. “Obviously, disappointed not to win the game. With the second half performance we probably deserved to but making my debut for Scotland, it’s an amazing feeling and I’m really proud and hungry for more. The gaffer put the team up on the screen in the meeting and I saw my name. It was a great feeling but I still have a job to do so I tried to keep my emotions quite relaxed.”
He might have struggled to keep those emotions in check had his long, low drive — the only glimmer of hope in an otherwise grim first 45 minutes — found the bottom corner rather than brushing the post. After the break, his friend McBurnie had a couple of fine chances to open his international account on his 17th appearance as Scotland dominated. “We changed the structure up front, I think Oli dropped in a little bit more on the left so was able to play really well with Robbo and Billy, which helped us,” Ure explained of the half-time switch. “Hopefully our relationship will continue to grow, I really enjoyed it and thought he played really well.”
In the end, Pocognoli could take plenty of positives from a point in his first game in charge, and the Tartan Army had plenty to take away too as a new era began — with Robbie Ure, name and all, very much part of it.