Scotland star Lewis Ferguson offers Steve Clarke major boost as he captains Bologna to huge Serie A win

Lewis Ferguson has handed Scotland boss Steve Clarke a major boost. Cr: Getty Images. | Getty Images

Scotland midfielder Lewis Ferguson has handed Steve Clarke a major injury boost after starting his first game in over a month as he captained Bologna to a monumental 2-1 win over AC Milan in Serie A last night.

The ex-Aberdeen midfielder had not started a game for the Rossoblù since picking up a hamstring issue early into the Champions League clash with Sporting CP in January. The 25-year-old was forced off the pitch after just 10 minutes of last month’s European clash, with the injury coming as a blow to Ferguson, who had been sidelined for over seven months after undergoing surgery for a ruptured ACL last year.

However, after appearing off the bench sporadically in recent games, Ferguson was given the all clear to start the mammoth Serie A clash against AC Milan last night, where second-half goals from Santiago Castro (48) and Dan NDoye (82) cancelled out Rafael Leao’s opener on an important night at the Stadio Renata Dall’Ara. The victory sees Bologna leapfrog AC Milan in table, moving them into sixth, three points clear of the San Siro outfit in the race for European qualification.

Rafael Leao had opened the scoring for AC Milan - only for Bologna to roar back. Cr: Getty Images. | Getty Images

The 25-year-old played 72 minutes of the clash, before being replaced by Tommaso Pobega for the final throes of the game, and Ferguson looked back to his best during his time on the pitch too, making 84% of his passes accurately and creating the most chances (3) in the game. His participation in the game will be welcome news to Scotland manager Clarke ahead of the Nations League playoff against Greece on March 20, with the Tartan Army boss already dealing with several injury concerns ahead of next month’s camp.

With less than a three weeks to go until the first leg of the Nations League playoff against Greece, Clarke is sweating over the fitness of Ben Doak and John Souttar, while key striker Lyndon Dykes certain to miss the game with a calf injury he picked in Birmingham City’s 0-0 draw with Reading last weekend.

“Hopefully we can see him before the end of this season,” admitted Birmingham boss Chris Davies earlier in the week. “I would call it a medium term injury, not a quick turnaround but there’s definitely a route back for him to get back before the end of this season and contribute. We’ll miss him.”