Misfiring Scotland star will be shown 'love' as decision to keep Ben Doak over Celtic man explained

Steve Clarke is planning to show Lawrence Shankland some “love” after maintaining faith in the misfiring Hearts striker.

The Scotland manager demonstrated he is standing by Shankland, who has struck just once for his club this season, by including him in his latest squad for upcoming Nations League games against Croatia and Poland later this month.

The striker might even be bumped up a place in the queue to lead the attack if Che Adams fails to recover from a thigh injury in time. The Torino forward limped off in his side’s 1-0 defeat against Fiorentina on Sunday.

Scotland head coach Steve Clarke has kept faith with Lawrence Shankland. | SNS Group

Clarke has no plans to call anyone up if Adams fails to make it in time and will choose between Shankland, Lyndon Dykes and Tommy Conway to lead the line. Dykes has struck just twice this season for Birmingham City in 12 appearances. Conway, Clarke’s other option, has scored four times for Middlesbrough.

Shankland, meanwhile, only has one goal so far this season, against Ross County in September, having scored 33 times for club and country in the previous campaign. One of those goals came a year ago when he stepped off the bench to earn Scotland a late 2-2 draw against Georgia. It all but secured his place in the Euro 2024 squad.

“I haven't spoken to him yet,” said Clarke, when asked about Shankland’s ongoing frustrations in front of goal. “Obviously, I'll speak to him when he comes into camp. Last camp, Lawrence pulled out with a slight hamstring injury, so he wasn't involved too much the last time. I'll have a good chat with him this time and tell him that I still love him.

“I think I've always shown I'm quite loyal to players that have been good for the country,” he added. “Lawrence has been good for us. He's having a tougher time this season, but that happens. What you've got to do is you've got to dig in, you've got to work hard, you've got to come through it. At this time, he probably needs people to show a little bit of faith in him. Hopefully, he'll get the reward of that and we might get the reward as well.”

Clarke has opted to stick with winger 18-year-old Liverpool winger Ben Doak, who is on loan at Middlesbrough, rather than re-recruit James Forrest. The Celtic winger was named in the previous squad for games against Croatia and Portugal but pulled out due to injury. Forrest has since returned for Celtic, playing the last 20 minutes of Saturday’s 6-0 win over Aberdeen in the Premier Sports Cup semi-final. Asked if he was available for this double header, Clarke replied: “I think so, he played at the weekend, didn’t he?”

Teenage winger Ben Doak has retained his place in the squad. | SNS Group

He added that he had simply chosen to continue with Doak, who started both games last month and looked lively. “I think the boys that were playing last month did well,” said Clarke. “Obviously, James pulled out the squad with a slight injury, and Ben Doak got his chance and I thought Ben took it quite well, so I'll stick with Ben.”

Rangers midfielder Connor Barron, meanwhile, has been named in an initial senior squad for the first time after being called up as injury cover for the last two double-headers. “I was impressed with Connor yesterday,” said Clarke, who watched the player make his 17th appearance for Rangers in their 2-1 Premier Sports Cup semi-final win over Motherwell at Hampden.

“He was a good player for Rangers yesterday. He's been good any time I've watched him this year. He’s obviously been in the squads before. He shows a good attitude. He knows he's still working and learning the game, but it's been pleasing. I'm really pleased with Connor.”