Injury rules Allan McGregor out of Scotland squad

Shoulder injury: Allan McGregor. Picture: Getty

The goalkeeper’s club, Hull City, say he will miss at least a month of football and he is expected to withdraw from the Scotland squad.

Hull have been managing  McGregor’s existing shoulder complaint for some weeks but manager Steve Bruce revealed he has been ordered to rest.

“The specialist has said he needs to rest and stop diving on it,’’ said Bruce. “If you’ve got a sore shoulder and you’re diving on it every day… we need to take him out and make sure he recovers.

“Hopefully in four to six weeks he’ll be back to normal. We’re just delighted he doesn’t need an operation. We first thought it might need one.’’

Bruce also confirmed that the keeper would not be linking up with Scotland ahead of their Euro 2016 qualifiers.

He was one of three goalkeepers named this week in Gordon Strachan’s squad, the others being David Marshall and Craig Gordon. Marshall is likely to start both games later this month, with Gordon the back-up.

McGregor’s Hull place will be taken by experienced deputy Steve Harper, starting against Crystal Palace tomorrow. “Harper will give us that experience that we saw last year, he came into the fray and did fantastically for us,” said Bruce.