Steve Clarke welcomes selection headache as Scotland’s injury problems ease

Scotland head coach Steve Clarke revealed his team selection had been giving him “sleepless nights” after getting a number of key players back from injury.

John McGinn is among the players trying to break into the side for Friday’s Nations League encounter with Croatia at Hampden.

Centre-backs Jack Hendry and Scott McKenna and Middlesbrough striker Tommy Conway, who has netted five goals this season, have also returned to the squad.

Hearts forward Lawrence Shankland and Celtic left-back Greg Taylor are also in Clarke’s thoughts after dropping out last month through injury, while Stuart Armstrong has been recalled after making a positive impact at Vancouver Whitecaps following the withdrawal of Che Adams and Lewis Morgan.

Scotland held Portugal to a goalless draw to get off the mark in Group A1 and are looking to keep their hopes of avoiding relegation alive when they take on Croatia before facing Poland in Warsaw on Monday.

On the returning players, Clarke said: “It’s great. I haven’t slept this week because you’ve got so many permutations going through your head, it’s brilliant. Good choices again.

“We’ve got good options (in the final third). Like I said, Tommy Conway back in, back involved.

“Ryan Gauld showing that he can come in and do a good job. Ben Doak was good for us last camp. You’ve got John McGinn back, you’ve got Ryan Christie, you’ve got Stuart Armstrong. Like I said, sleepless nights.”

Scotland still have a slim chance of finishing second in the group and guaranteeing another shot at the top level of the Nations League.

They would need to win their final two games and hope other results fall their way, while anything less than a win against Croatia could potentially consign them to bottom spot before the final match.

Clarke is looking for a similar but improved performance to the one that held Portugal last time out.

“Obviously, you know when you play against the top sides, of which Croatia are definitely one, you have to defend well. So there’s your similarity, we have to defend well,” he said.

“We have to do a little bit better with the ball. We didn’t quite get enough possession against Portugal. With the little bit of possession that we did get, we showed that we can create some chances. So that’s what we have to improve on.

“That’s been the one thing over the Nations League campaign that we’ve shown, we can be competitive at this level. We have to find the extra little details that turn these performances into results.

“But we’ve got two games to come and still a chance to be really competitive in this group and stay at that level, which is what we all want.”