LIVINGSTON coach Roberto Landi believes he was right to try and block Leigh Griffith's call to the national team after it was confirmed that the young striker requires a second knee operation.
The 18-year-old's bad luck was confirmed when an MRI scan revealed serious damage to his left knee after he broke down in training last Friday.
The striker, who has bagged nine goals this term but has not scored since notching a brace in a 2-0 vi
ctory over Dunfermline on August 30, missed the whole of September through injury and played less than 45 minutes for the first team before he was called up for the Scotland Under-19 squad's European Championship games in Hungary, winning three caps.
But Landi, who has coached both the Georgian and Lithuanian national under-21 sides, warned his call-up was premature and now his fears have been realised.
He said: "He came on for us against Queen of the South as a sub and then he went away to play for Scotland. He played 50 minutes against San Marino and played from the start in the other two matches, so he played three games in six days.
"It is my opinion this is why he may be injured now, he played too much.
"When you come back from a big injury and have an operation in the knee like Sparky did, and after being out for four weeks, then playing as a sub for us, then going to play for Scotland then playing for us again from the bench, it is a lot of stress on his body.
"I can't rewind the tape though and prevent it from happening, so we will just have to cope without him and hope he recovers better this time."
The full article contains 303 words and appears in Edinburgh Evening News newspaper.
