SCOTLAND are facing a striker shortage ahead of Tuesday night's trip to take on Serbia in Novi Sad.
Steven Fletcher was sent back to Sunderland from the squad's Mar Hall training base yesterday for assessment on the ankle injury which ended his involvement in Friday's World Cup qualifying defeat to Wales after just a couple of minutes, while his replacement Kenny Miller is also rated doubtful for the match after sustaining a muscle problem behind his knee.
Miller has yet to be formally ruled out, but his unavailability could leave Gordon Strachan – who has already lost Leeds United's Ross McCormack and Celtic's James Forrest from his original group – with just the inexperienced Jordan Rhodes of Blackburn Rovers up front for the meeting with the Serbians. The Scotland manager spent yesterday agonising over whether to call up reinforcements, with Jamie Mackie of Queen's Park Rangers, Hibs' Leigh Griffiths and Steven Thompson of St Mirren thought to be names under consideration.
The problems don't stop there for Strachan. Robert Snograss is suspended after the red card which put an end to an impressive performance against the Welsh, while captain Gary Caldwell and Celtic's Charlie Mulgrew were both nursing knocks as the squad did a light session at a chilly Mar Hall yesterday after Scottish FA staff cleared snow off the training pitch. On the plus side, Steven Naismith and Kris Commons could come into contention, as could new boys George Boyd, Gary Mackay-Steven and Liam Bridcutt.
"We will have to rethink a few things for Serbia because there are a few injuries and a few missing," Strachan said. "We'll see how Kenny is. He got a knock. We thought it was his hamstring but it wasn't. Kenny says it was his knee, he felt it round the back of his leg. Steven Fletcher has gone back to get assessed by his own club now and to be fair what we don't like doing is saying he has got this injury or that injury – it is better that they tell you. But it is not as bad as we feared."
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