CELTIC'S Tennent's Scottish Cup victory over Dunfermline at Hampden Park on Saturday came at a high cost to Scotland manager Alex McLeish.
McLeish's plans for the forthcoming Euro 2008 qualifier against the Faroe Islands on June 6 were thrown in to disarray when three Parkhead players pulled out of the trip to Austria for a preparatory friendly tomorrow.
Hoops striker Kenny Miller h
as a hamstring injury, Celtic defender Steven Pressley aggravated a back complaint and striker Craig Beattie, who was used as a second-half substitute in the 1-0 victory, picked up a knock.
All three are now unlikely to play any part in their country's forthcoming matches.
New Celtic signing Scott Brown and Aberdeen stopper Russell Anderson will also miss the trip to Vienna with niggles and will be assessed later in the week after extensive treatment.
McLeish has called in veteran utility player Christian Dailly.
Derby County pair Gary Teale and Jay McEveley were not expected to travel to Austria due to their Coca-Cola Championship play-off final win over West Brom at Wembley yesterday.
However, Teale did not play in the Rams' 1-0 victory and the SFA will ask the wide man to join up with the rest of the squad.
McLeish has already lost his current top scorer James McFadden as he struggles to overcome the broken metatarsal which ruled him out of the March qualifiers against Georgia and Italy, leaving Lokomotiv Moscow striker Garry O'Connor as an unlikely saviour.
O'Connor was brought in to the squad after McFadden pulled out but the loss of Miller and Beattie leaves McLeish with just three forwards, with O'Connor joining Kris Boyd and Shaun Maloney.
The full article contains 287 words and appears in Edinburgh Evening News newspaper.
