No Scotland call-up for the in-form O’Connor

Celtic skipper Scott Brown has also been ruled out of next month’s crucial double-header due to a long-running ankle complaint.

It is understood that Levein has decided to leave out O’Connor while the player has criminal charges hanging over him. O’Connor, who made the last of his 16 Scotland appearances against the Netherlands two years ago, pleaded not guilty by letter in an Edinburgh court yesterday to a charge of possessing cocaine. The striker is further alleged to have obstructed, resisted, molested and hindered two police constables and is due to stand trial in February.

Despite a growing clamour to include the player for the final Group I clashes, Levein will opt for the same course of action taken in the case of David Goodwillie, whose own Scotland career was temporarily put on hold after he was accused of sexual assault. The Blackburn Rovers striker returned to the international squad after charges were dropped earlier this year.

Levein watched as O’Connor scored his eighth goal of the season in a 3-3 draw against Dundee United on Saturday and he netted two more against St Johnstone last night but Levein is set to stick with strikers Kenny Miller, Goodwillie and Craig Mackail-Smith. Ross McCormack, who has struck nine times for Leeds United this season, is also believed to have been overlooked on this occasion.

The Scotland manager will

also have to do without Brown, who has become a key figure in the international side. The Celtic skipper has an ankle injury which his club fear could sideline him for most of next month. Levein has already been informed by his Celtic counterpart Neil Lennon that the midfielder will not be available.

The 26-year-old has not played since limping out of Celtic’s 4-2 defeat against Rangers at Ibrox 11 days ago. Brown will miss his club’s Europa League game at home to Udinese tonight and their SPL trip to face Hearts at Tynecastle on Sunday.

“I spoke to Craig Levein this morning and told him Scott will be out of the Scotland games,” confirmed Lennon. “He is going to see a specialist again in the next few days. We are hoping it’s not as severe as him being out for months, but it might be a bit longer than a couple of weeks.”

Brown has suffered difficulty with the ankle for some time, but has finally been forced to give up on attempts to play his way through the problem.

“It is a totally different injury from the one he had previously,” explained Lennon. “But it might have been detrimental that he was playing without the original ankle problem being fully recovered. That might have had an adverse effect on his rehabilitation and the longer term effect it had. I don’t think it will require surgery, but it might just be that it is going to take a bit longer than we first thought for Scott to get back playing again.”