McKenna’s Canada call leaves Hearts in lurch

HEARTS will lose Canadian international defender Kevin McKenna for three matches after the weekend when the £300,000 signing jets off to the United States for the Gold Cup.

McKenna will fly to America after the Aberdeen match on Saturday, missing the SPL games against Livingston and Celtic and the Scottish Cup fourth-round tie with Arbroath or Inverness.

Should Canada progress in the competition, McKenna will miss further games.

McKenna’s absence could open the door to Scott Severin, who is back in the first-team squad after an ankle injury.

Hearts coach Craig Levein said: “Severin can come in, hopefully. He is the only other real option we have there.”

In a further blow, Austrian international Thomas Flogel is a major doubt for Saturday’s clash with Aberdeen after twisting his ankle in the Scottish Cup tie against Ross County.

Meanwhile, Eric Black has decided to take drastic action to kick-start his rebuilding plans at Motherwell by putting experienced pair Kevin Twaddle and Andy Dow on the transfer list.

They join Paul Harvey and Jon Connelly, who have already been told to find other clubs as the man who succeeded Billy Davies as manager at Fir Park attempts to overhaul the playing staff on a shoestring budget.

Twaddle and Dow have two-and-a-half years to go on their current deals with the club, but were told after training yesterday that they were not part of Black’s long-term plans.

Dow had just forced his way back into the team for the past two matches after being injured, but he was substituted early in the second half of the Scottish Cup defeat away to Dunfermline on Saturday and now looks to have played his last match for Motherwell. It’s the second time in nine months that the midfielder has been transfer listed as Aberdeen manager Ebbe Skovdahl did likewise with the player back in April. St Johnstone were interested at that time, but the former Dundee, Chelsea and Hibernian player rejected a swap deal, that would have taken Gary Bollan north, in favour of Motherwell.

Twaddle cost £125,000 when he signed from Morton and only signed a new deal in the summer, but the winger has failed to earn a regular place in the team since Black arrived.

# Hugh Dallas, Scotland’s top referee, has been selected to officiate at this summer’s World Cup. Dallas, having previously been involved in France 1998, becomes only the second Scottish official to make it to two World Cups finals.

"It is a great honour to be selected again for the World Cup finals because they are the highlight of anyone’s career," said Dallas, who will be joined by England’s Graham Poll.

# Morton have signed striker Paul Wright on a one-month deal. Wright, recently released by Falkirk, is expected to make his debut tonight against Clydebank at Cappielow.

Taken from the Scotsman