Steve Clarke fears Scotland star Kieran Tierney won't be fit enough to face England at Wembley on Friday - as he revealed the defender is unlikely to train today.
The Arsenal defender missed Monday's 2-0 defeat to Czech Republic through a calf injury and although the Tartan Army fans will have lit up seeing one of our key players return to training yesterday, Clarke has admitted he doesn't know if his star man will be ready to tackle the Auld Enemy in a huge clash in Group D.
Muirhouse man Tierney took part in light training yesterday, but at yesterday's press conference the Scotland boss said: "Kieran did some light training — but that’s a big difference to normal training.
“I wouldn’t think he will train on Wednesday. I can’t tell if he is going to be okay, that is the honest answer.
“We’ll now just need to see how it develops and see how he does, and then decide from there.
“I knew there was an issue 48 hours before the [Czech Republic] game.
“You’re hoping when he wakes up he will be okay - and you can tell how close he was to making it because he was back in light training on Tuesday.
“But it was one of them — if you’ve got a calf injury it can be a bit of a bugger. You can’t play with a calf injury.”
Tierney wasn't the only Lanarkshire star to miss out completely from Scotland's first appearance at a major tournament for 23 years, as Aberdeen-bound Declan Gallagher was one of three in the 26-man squad not stripped for the opener.
Clarke admitted Tierney was desperate to play through the pain barrier, adding: "He [Tierney] wanted to play, like everybody wanted to play.
“There were two others who were left out with him, John Fleck and Declan Gallagher, they also wanted to play.
“That is the life of football. Injuries are part and parcel of the game."
Despite the massive disappointment of falling to defeat in the first game of the group, Clarke insists there are still plenty of positives to take down the road to Wembley.
He added: “If you don’t just look at the result, if you are honest and you look at the game, as we do, then there is a lot to take out of the game.”
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