Wednesday 9 September 2009

Scotland set to leave out Clarets pair

Steven Fletcher and Graham Alexander both played well in Scotland's 2-0 weekend win over Macedonia, but an injury to goalscorer James McFadden has led to manager George Burley shuffling his pack for tonight's win-or-bust game against the Netherlands at Hampden Park.

The Clarets duo will both be dropped to the bench, according to the BBC, in order to allow Steven Naismith and Shaun Maloney to come in on the wings. Alexander will be replaced by either Paul Hartley or Gary Caldwell, who returns from suspension for the game. His brother Steven, Burnley's third Scotland player, is still not fit enough to be involved.

Elsewhere, an injury to Kyle Lafferty has opened the door for Martin Paterson to start for Northern Ireland at Windsor Park, despite missing two good chances from the bench in Poland on Saturday. Group leaders Slovakia are the visitors to Belfast and a victory for Northern Ireland would give them an excellent chance of qualifying for the play-offs at least.

Meanwhile, Andre Bikey will hope to force his way into the Cameroon team for their crunch game at home to Gabon in Group A of African qualifying. The Clarets' new defender would make his 16th appearance for his country if selected.

Good luck to all the Burnley players in international action tonight.

This article was written for FansOnline Burnley.

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