Steve Clarke is keeping fingers crossed he can call upon Craig Gordon for the Nations League tie with Ireland as the Scotland No.1 braces himself for a late dash to the maternity ward.
The Hearts keeper almost missed Wednesday’s win over Ukraine as he raced to be at partner Summer’s bedside as they await the birth of their second child together. The hospital drama proved to be a false alarm and Gordon was able to return to the Scotland camp with just four hours to spare before his side kicked off their 3-0 Hampden win.
But with the expectant mum-to-be already 10 days past her due date, Clarke is wary another twinge could throw his plans for this evening’s clash with Stephen Kenny’s team into chaos. The Scots boss said: “It’s something we have to monitor and we are monitoring it. It’s possible we’ll have the same sort of Saturday as we had on Wednesday. But the most important part of that is that mum and baby do well.”
Clarke could conceivably have another reason to change his plans if Group B1 rivals Ukraine suffer a surprise slip-up away to Armenia in today’s 2pm kick-off. That would give the national team boss a couple of hours to decide whether to rest up some of his top stars ahead of Tuesday’s clash with Oleksandr Petrakov’s team in Poland, where a win would seal first place in the group and a guaranteed Euro 2024 play-off slot.
But Clarke said: “I think Ukraine will beat Armenia and that’s the thought we have to take. My coaches are holding on to the hope that Armenia can get something from the game.
“But I’m just focusing on the fact Ukraine will win and we then have to deal with the two games our way. The ultimate aim of this week is to go to the last game against Ukraine with a realistic chance of topping the section.
“Whether we have to go to Poland and win or go there and get a point, either way it’s a game that’s probably going to decide the section. Everyone was rightly impressed with the team in midweek against Ukraine.
"But I told the players all we’ve done with that win is secure the fact we won’t be relegated from the B league. That’s all.
“We can still finish first, second or third in the group. The next game is the most important one. We want to build towards it. We want to finish first. I’ve said that consistently.
“We still have a lot of work in front of us then we can start to think about play-offs, seedings, whatever. Let’s get this game out of the way then we can see what we need approaching the last game.”
Clarke admits he’s got some big decisions on whether to stick by the stars who left Ukraine rocking in midweek. But he won’t be swayed by grumbles from club bosses who fear their players being burned out by three games amid a hectic week.
He said: “We’ve got decisions to make on a few – Kieran Tierney on minutes on the pitch, Jack Hendry on minutes on the pitch, Stuart Armstrong on minutes on the pitch. Pretty much those three.
“In terms of physical preparation Ireland will have had the better week as they’ve had a clear week to prepare while ourselves and Ukraine are playing catch-up. We don’t complain about it because we understand the reason we had to play the extra game as Ukraine is much more important than a football match.
“We’ve had a great win in midweek and we feel good about ourselves, so maybe it balances itself out. When the players come to me, I borrow them. My job is to win matches for Scotland.
“I try to treat all the players as well as I can but if I have to play players in all three matches in such a short space of time then that’s what I have to do.”
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