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Daily Record
Daily Record
Sport
Mark Walker

Oleksandr Petrakov issues rallying Scotland revenge call as hurting Ukraine boss admits selection dilemma

Ukraine are desperate for revenge when they face Scotland, according to manager Oleksandr Petrakov, but they will be missing suspended Dynamo Kyiv captain Serhiy Sydorchuk.

Scotland travel to Krakow to face the Ukrainians in Poland in what is a home game for Ukraine, who bounced back from their defeat in Scotland to annihilate Armenia 5-0 in a match where boss Petrakov changed all 11 of his starting line-up from Hampden. Steve Clarke's side need just a point on Tuesday to top their group and win promotion, but Petrakov admits his side has extra motivation when they face the Scots but will be without Sydorchuk - who has 54 caps for his country - collected a booking in Yerevan which means he is banned from playing the Scots.

He said: "We are still in the hunt for first place and we want to beat Scotland and take revenge on them. But it's football, who knows what will happen on Tuesday.

:I always take risks. I took one in Armenia by changing the team. Now I must decide who gets to play against the Scots.

"I am not afraid of criticism. That's what happens in my job. I don't like to single out any particular player for praise because it is a team sport.

"I am not surprised by the result here because I know we have a good team. What was really pleasing for me was that we didn't settle for a narrow win - we kept going until the end.

"I want to support the manager of the Armenian team - how he feels after this game I felt the same when we played Scotland. Football can be a cruel game. There is a good atmosphere in the squad and we proved now we have good competition for places."

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