Steve Clarke admitted his alarm watching Nathan Patterson being carried away on a stretcher at Hampden - but hopes the right-back will be back before long.
The Scotland star was forced off early in Wednesday night's dazzling 3-0 win over Ukraine in the Nations League, a bitter blow for the 20-year-old after ankle surgery put his fledgling Everton career on hold last season. And now he's suffered a fresh setback after sustaining what appeared to be a knee issue.
Clarke revealed he's waiting on an assessment from his medical team over the only negative from a highly impressive night for Scotland, who romped to victory thanks to John McGinn and a Lyndon Dykes double. The manager was thrilled by his team's performance but has his fingers crossed that 20-year-old Everton star Patterson hasn't been hit with another serious injury.
Clarke told Premier Sports: "It doesn't look too good when he goes off on a stretcher. He obviously felt something on his leg, we'll just wait and see what the medics say and how it pans out. Hopefully, it's not too serious and hopefully he's not out too long."
Clarke also revealed that Celtic midfielder David Turnbull will drop out of the squad ahead of Saturday's meeting with Ireland. The manager says Turnbull has an ankle issue from Sunday's defeat at St Mirren which hasn't cleared up as quickly as hoped, meaning he could now call up another two players to cover the two he's set to lose.
Clarke added: "(Will you call anyone else up?) We'll go away and have a little chat about it. David Turnbull will pull out the squad, he picked up an ankle knock at the weekend we thought would clear up.
"It's not going to clear up in time for this so he's better to go back to his club and get ready for their next game. Two players light, I'll probably need to call at least one, maybe two players."
