JOHN Carver has hailed the former Celtic kid who slotted in to Andy Robertson’s left back role after the Scotland captain sustained a minor knock in a Euro 2024 training session in Garmisch-Partenkirchen yesterday morning.
Robertson hobbled off to receive medical attention from the national team’s physios after, much to the concern of the Tartan Army footsoldiers who had turned up to watch, suffering a knock at the Stadion am Groben.
The Liverpool defender’s departure left a hole to be filled during the practice match which Steve Clarke’s charges played and the kit room assistant Aidan McIlduff had to be drafted in at short notice.
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McIlduff came through the youth ranks at Parkhead and made his first team debut under Ronny Deila when he replaced Finnish striker Teemu Pukki in a pre-season match against LASK Linz back in 2014.
He has since gone on to represent Clyde, Queen’s Park, Peterhead, Berwick Rangers and Camelon Juniors and Carver was impressed with how the specialist left back acquitted himself alongside Premier League and Premiership players.
The former Newcastle United coach also felt his contribution to the session underlined the togetherness which there is in the Scotland camp ahead of the Euro 2024 curtain raiser against Germany in Munich on Friday night.
“We’ve got a few members of staff who think they are players. But everyone pitches in. I can’t believe the size of the staff we’ve got here. I’ve seen people I’ve never seen before in my life.
“But it’s not a bad thing because these people are working for us and we hardly ever see them because they are beavering away behind the scenes. They are just as important as I am or Steve to the organisation.
“When you are away at a tournament you have to treat these people like they are one of us. And they are. They are so important to us.”
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Robertson was not the only Scotland player who didn’t take a full part in training yesterday – Stuart Armstrong, Kenny McLean and Lawrence Shankland were also only partially involved.
But Carver said: “Andy is fine. It was a precaution really. The ball just caught his ankle. But he will train tomorrow, he will be fine. Obviously, at this stage we are going to be extra cautious. But he is okay and we look forward to him joining back in tomorrow.
“It’s never nice, is it? Especially with the luck we have had lately. As soon as training was finished I popped across and had a chat with him. He is in good form.
“He (Shankland) had a little bit of a niggle from the other night and he is in that process. Obviously he had quite a lot of game time in the two friendlies we played so we are just protecting him. Everybody has their own programme when they are coming back but he is fine, he is good.
“Kenny had a little issue before the game the other night, but he will probably train with us tomorrow. We are just, like I say, being extra cautious. Stuart will be back tomorrow so that’s good news as well.
“We have to be careful, we have to make sure we have all the science right because we are now in the tournament. We want to have everybody fit and firing for that first game. We want to make an impact.”
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