Livi danger man Dykes has had no cap call yet
SAYS STEVE CLARKE KEITH JACKSON
BY SCOTT BURNS CELTIC slayer Lyndon Dykes has had no contact from Scotland or Australia and the only manager he is focused on impressing is Gary Holt.
The Aussie-born striker put on a stunning weekend display and got Livingston’s second goal in the 2-0 win over the champions.
The 24-year-old has been linked with international call-ups for his homeland and Scotland, who he qualifies for via his Dumfries-born parents.
Dykes said: “It is very flattering that I have been linked with both Australia and Scotland.
“It shows that I must be doing something right for Livingston. A lot of people are talking about me in Scotland and in Australia about possible call-ups but nothing has happened.
“I’ve not heard anything from the SFA or from the Football Federation of Australia. I know I have to keep playing well at club level and keep in Gary Holt’s team.”
“Gary and Davie Martindale were good enough to take a chance on me and bring me up to the Premiership and since then it has been all about trying to repay them.”
Dykes was put on the spot after the Celtic game, in front of the television cameras and said he would probably pick Australia ahead of Scotland.
The frontman, however, is adamant it would be an honour to play for either.
He added: “If I had both Scotland and Australia on the table then that would be amazing.
“I was born and played my early football in Australia but my parents are from Scotland and my son was born here.
“So if I was lucky enough to have a decision to make then I would have a lot to weigh up.” STEVE CLARKE knows what you’re thinking back at home.
Yes, you shrugging your shoulders on the sofa wondering if there’s any point even reaching out for the remote control for the telly.
That these international breaks have long since become a monumental ball ache. That they are getting in the way of the domestic game which has to go back on hold almost every time it’s just getting interesting.
That there is no pleasure at all to be derived from having to watch Scotland suffer any more excruciating losses on the world stage and in full HD.
Yes, Clarke is acutely aware of the dark mood he left behind yesterday when he led Scotland’s players here to a grey, wet Moscow for a match which hardly even matters now that another qualification campaign has gone up in smoke on the back of capitulations against Russia and Belgium.
He’s heard it all before but that doesn’t mean he’s already given up hope of doing something about it between now and next March when his side really will face a meaningful match in the play-off round for Euro 2020.
“The only way to change it is to be positive and to win some matches,” Clarke said yesterday shortly after touching down in Russia, escaping from the suffocating indifference back home.
“If we can do that then hopefully everyone is looking at March and thinking, ‘Bring it on, I can’t wait for this! Let’s get the league campaign out of the way and get to March and see if we can qualify for Euro 2020!’
That’s the theory anyway. The reality of managing Scotland has been a lot less satisfying for Clarke who has won just one of his opening four games in charge and whose credentials as some kind of miracle worker are now the subject of some nagging doubt.
A win here in Russia then might help to persuade the Tartan Army that this man can part the Red Sea after all.
Clarke knows he can’t keep living off his past glories at Kilmarnock.
He added: “That would be great, wouldn’t it? That’s what you hope for. I’m not in Russia thinking, ‘We’ll get this game out of the way and then k.jackson@dailyrecord.co.uk attack the last three games and see if we can get the points there’.
“We have to think ‘Come on, let’s turn Russia over!’
“We have to think we can get three points here and if not then at least take a point. It’s going to be a tough game but I saw enough in the first game at Hampden to let me know that we have a chance to win.” He’s been here before you know. Not in this position of having to turn a nation’s fortunes around. But here in Moscow, at the Luzhniki Stadium, in 2008 for one of the most important moments of his coaching career.
It didn’t end well that night either, with John Terry losing his footing just when Mr Chelsea was within 12 yards of Champions League glory.
Clarke shared Terry’s pain that night from the shadows of the sidelines as Avram Grant’s right-hand man.
This time, however, he’ll be the man in the spotlight for a game which he insists means every bit as much to him as that all-fated showdown with Manchester United.
He admitted: “I said when I took the job in the summer that this was the pinnacle, it was the top of my career as a manager and bigger than anything I have done before.
“People say this match is a dead rubber. I disagree entirely.
“There’s never a dead game when you are representing your country. You want to win, you want to perform well. I think we are taking at least 1000 people over there, who are going to the game. It is really important.
“Listen, those guys have shelled out an obscene amount of money to get to Moscow. I know from trying to put together a squad how difficult it is to get COME ON SCOTLAND... COME ON SCOTLAND... COME ON SCOTLAND... COME ON SCOTLAND... COME ON SCOTLAND... COME ON SCOTLAND... COME ON SCOTLAND... COME ON SCOTLAND... COME ON SCOTLAND... COME ON SCOTL