KEITH JACKSON
JUST when it seemed as if Steve Clarke’s lucky white heather was back in business, along comes a day like yesterday.
Nathan Patterson – the obvious answer to all his right-back problems – knocked out of contention for tonight’s make-orbreak World Cup showdown with Austria. Just days after providing yet more proof he is born to operate at this level.
Then, as if to rub salt in the manager’s wounds, Ryan Fraser is forced to hobble out of the travelling party too after pulling up in training on Sunday, just when the winger seemed next in line to fill the very gap Patterson was leaving behind.
Throw in another knock that also rules Kenny McLean out of action and it sums up the callousness of Clarke’s misfortune.
If you didn’t know better you’d think this qualification campaign has been cursed from the outset, so many spanners have been tossed into the manager’s wheels.
And yet, here we are. On the verge of a match which has the potential at least to fire Clarke and Scotland right back into the mix at the right end of Group F.
The manager, though, is not looking for pity now the crunch is upon him. Before travelling here to Vienna yesterday he said: “On the positive side I did say after the game the other night against Moldova that we had seven or eight doubts. So five of them came through all right.
“It’s difficult for the players when it’s such a tight schedule because it’s really intense. Every game is a big one for us and we know that we need to get points from them all. So the lads are going flat out – even in the training days. The ones who haven’t been playing in the matches want to go flat out to impress.
“It’s just been a tough schedule and a difficult time. But I’ve managed to call up a player and get someone into the squad. varied best efforts. Asked, for example, if Liam Palmer has turned down the chance to return to the squad after missing out on the Euros in the last cut, Clark said: “I’m not going to give out any names but I have tried more than one. For various reasons we haven’t managed it up until now.
“It’s nice to get one in to give us that little bit of cover. But there are no issues, none whatsoever.
“Liam is very much one we’ve got our eye on. We keep watching all the players and there are a lot who haven’t been involved, who weren’t involved in the Euros, who wanted to be involved in the Euros.”
Celtic’s Anthony Ralston was also rendered unavailable on medical grounds which explains his omission from the group, despite such an eye-catching start to the season under Ange Postecoglou.
Everywhere he looks, it seems Clarke sees his luck disappearing round a corner.
Ravaged by Covid ahead of last week’s defeat in Denmark and perhaps spooked into picking the wrong team as a consequence, he got the big tactical calls correct on Saturday at home to Moldova.
But even then his team could only scrape a 1-0 win because of individual carelessness in front of goal. Clarke said: “The criticism, I didn’t really notice it. I don’t read a lot of what gets written when I’m in camp.
“We always knew going to Denmark would be a tough game. We knew we had to beat Moldova at home. It would have been nicer to beat them by two or three which probably on the night we deserved.
“But it was also very important that we got the three points. We did that and the spirit within the camp is good. The lads are looking forward to this game and understand the relevance of this fixture.
“It was always going to be big for us no matter what happened previously. We said that we wanted to be involved when it got to the October and November games and we’re still on schedule for that.”
Now it’s up to Clarke to have another shot at tweaking his attack – and hoping just this once his luck holds out. Asked what he’s looking for from his attacking players tonight the manager said: “I want hard work. To use Lyndon Dykes for example, I want him to link well.
“Che Adams gives us something different, something unpredictable. Kevin Nisbet is a natural finisher although none of the chances actually fell to Kevin the other night.
“They all give me different qualities. They are all good, honest players and they work hard for the team, that’s something they have to do. The goals will come.”
And so ‘fingers crossed’ it is then. Isn’t it about time?