STEVE Clarke has expressed confidence Lawrence Shankland can rediscover his scoring touch in the Nations League matches against Croatia and Poland after naming the Hearts striker in his 25 man squad from the Group A1 double header.
Shankland has only netted once in the 2024/25 campaign – he scored a last-minute equaliser in a 1-1 draw with Ross County in a William Hill Premiership match at Tynecastle back in September.
His form up front has been a far cry from last term when he was on target no fewer than 33 times for his club and country and was named both the PFA Scotland and SFWA Player of the Year.
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But Clarke - who will not call up a replacement if Che Adams, who limped off with a thigh injury in the first half of Torino’s match against Fiorentina in Italy on Sunday, is ruled out of the forthcoming double header – is certain the centre forward can still provide Scotland with a cutting edge in the final third.
“I haven't spoken to him yet,” he said. “Obviously, I'll speak to him when he comes into camp. Last camp, Lawrence pulled out with a slight hamstring injury, so he wasn't involved too much the last time. But I'll have a good chat with him this time and tell him that I still love him.
“What you've got to do is you've got to dig in, you've got to work hard, you've got to come through it. At this time, he probably needs people to show a little bit of faith in him. Hopefully, he'll get the reward of that and we might get the reward as well.”
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Asked about Adams’ fitness, Clarke said: “He picked it up yesterday, so it's obviously a short period of time between now. It'll be scanned and assessed by his club, and we'll find out later in the week whether or not he'll join up. I've got four forwards in the squad, so we're well covered in that department.”
Meanwhile, Clarke confirmed that Celtic winger James Forrest, who also withdrew from the last camp due to an injury, had not been selected because of the impact Liverpool player Ben Doak, who is on loan at Middlesbrough this season, made in the games against Croatia and Portugal last month.
“The boys that were playing last month did well,” he said. “Obviously, James pulled out the squad with a slight injury and Ben got his chance. I thought Ben took it quite well, so I'll stick with Ben.”
