Brown may feature in Kaunas after late call-up

SCOTT Brown, the Hibernian midfielder, received a late call-up to the Scotland squad yesterday and is poised to win his second senior cap at some stage of tomorrow night's European Championship Group B qualifier against Lithuania in Kaunas.

The 21-year-old, who made his Scotland debut as a substitute in the Hampden friendly against the USA last November, was drafted in by Walter Smith after the manager lost four of his squad to injury or illness.

Wigan midfielder Lee McCulloch and Reading full-back Graeme Murty, ruled out of Saturday's 6-0 win against the Faroe Islands at Parkhead, were sent back to their clubs after their injuries failed to improve sufficiently over the weekend. In addition, Celtic defender Stephen McManus suffered a thigh injury in training and Lokomotiv Moscow striker Garry O'Connor, scorer of the Scots' sixth goal on Saturday, was struck down by a stomach bug.

It left Smith with only 16 fully fit outfield players, prompting the call to Easter Road for Brown to join the squad which flies to Lithuania this morning. Tommy Burns, the Scotland assistant manager, gave a strong hint that the highly-regarded Hibs player will not simply be travelling in order to make up the numbers. "In these type of fixtures, our main thing is getting quick support to the front and Scott Brown has that very much in his make-up," said Burns. "That's why he has been brought in. He was very much in the manager's thoughts for the original squad, but was left with the under-21 side for their qualifier against France last Friday. He is a tremendous footballer, with a real winning mentality, and has made a big impact at Hibs and on Scottish football over the past couple of years. Scott has scored a couple of goals which really stick in my memory, notably against Celtic at Parkhead when he ran 70 yards late in a game and chipped the goalkeeper. I think he did a similar thing at Ibrox.

"He's got all the characteristics which make up a top midfield player. He made a positive impact for us as a substitute against the United States last season, and hopefully this will be the first of many times we see him back in the full squad."

While painting Brown as the identikit midfielder to fit into the system deployed so successfully away from home under Smith's management, Burns also indicated that Kris Boyd, who scored twice against the Faroes, is likely to be the forward who drops to the bench as Scotland revert to a lone striker against Lithuania.

Smith has already confirmed he will retain Kenny Miller in that role and Burns said: "He is a very loyal manager. He has stuck by players who have been struggling at club level and that loyalty has been repaid. He knows the players who can do a job in this type of game away from home. It's a question of seeing who is best suited to do a particular type of role.

"Kris Boyd's goal scoring record is astonishing, but he is a young player and I think he is of a mind that he will be patient, keep working away and doing the thing he does best which is scoring goals. He is very new to the international set-up and the manager knows what his qualities are. There will be games where those are the qualities we need as a team, and other games where we might need someone quicker to get in behind or someone more technical to take the ball in to feet. It depends on what the manager thinks is right for each game."

Burns, who was No2 to Berti Vogts when Scotland lost 1-0 to a dubious penalty kick on their previous visit to Lithuania in April 2003, believes a draw would constitute a more than acceptable result for Smith's squad tomorrow.

"Lithuania had a fantastic result in drawing 1-1 in Italy on Saturday and they will be very much up for this game," he said. "I would imagine they will be confident they can beat Scotland at home. It would be a fantastic result for us if we can go there and win the game. We have to go there and try to keep restoring our credibility and if we get a point from the game, I think that would be decent."

Vladimir Hrinak will referee the match in Lithuania. The Slovakian last officiated at a Scotland international in June 1995, when Craig Brown's men beat the Faroe Islands 2-0 in a Euro 96 qualifying match in Toftir.

Taken from the Scotsman