Steve Clarke excited by Scotland additions Lewis Morgan and Tommy Conway
The pair were called up to the provisional Euro 2024 squad after injuries to Lyndon Dykes and Ben Doak.
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Your support makes all the difference.Scotland manager Steve Clarke welcomed the different talents Lewis Morgan and Tommy Conway can bring to his Euro 2024 squad after making his second late call-up in 48 hours.
New York Red Bulls attacker Morgan is in a squad for the first time since November 2019 and six years after he won his only two caps in friendlies against Peru and Mexico under Alex McLeish.
The 27-year-old and Conway were drafted in after Lyndon Dykes and Ben Doak were ruled out and Clarke is looking at the positives of his new additions.
The former St Mirren, Celtic and Inter Miami winger has scored 23 goals in 53 appearances for New York.
Clarke said: “He can bring us something a little bit different. He’s obviously gone to MLS and had a had a great time out there. It shows that we do look far and wide at players.
“I don’t tend to pick wingers, as I keep getting told, but we have players that can play in wide positions and Lewis can certainly do that.
“Although, having watched a lot of his stuff in the last three or four days, he has also adapted his game a little bit and can play as a striker or a second striker, so he’s got a few strings to his bow that will give us more attacking options.”
Morgan has arrived in Scotland ahead of Friday’s friendly against Finland and Clarke said: “When Graeme (Jones, performance director) started to explain the situation and logistics with Lewis, he said ‘I’ll stop you there, I’m coming’. So that reaction that tells you how pleased he is.
“It’s disappointing to lose the players we’ve lost. But I think in Tommy Conway and Lewis Morgan, we’ve got two good additions to the squad.”
Uncapped Bristol City striker Conway was promoted from Scotland Under-21s after netting in a friendly in Turkey on Monday but is a familiar face.
“It’s as if he’s never been away,” Clarke said. “He was with with us last summer so the lads know Tommy. Tommy’s been good around the group.
“I know Tommy quite well and I thought he was a good one to bring in, slightly different to the type of forward that we’ve got. Tommy will try and get off the back of defenders a little bit more so I’m interested to see how it how he fits in.”
Clarke added the pair having been left with just Lawrence Shankland and Che Adams as recognised centre-forwards, but the decision leaves him still needing to cut two from his original squad before the end of Friday.
Scott McTominay is set to feature off the bench against Finland after he and John Souttar trained on Thursday following injury while Clarke expects Stuart Armstrong to get approval to rejoin the team on Monday after a quad injury.
Clarke has already decided which two players will miss out but knows anything could happen against Finland. With four goalkeepers and seven centre-backs in the squad, the pair look likely to come from those ranks but the Scotland boss is giving nothing away.
“I’ve reached a decision,” he said. “I haven’t had the conversation.”
When asked how difficult that process is, he said: “Almost impossible, but that’s my job. I have to do it. It won’t be nice, it won’t be easy, but we’ll deal with that between now and the the deadline.”
Clarke had already lost Lewis Ferguson, Aaron Hickey and Nathan Patterson in the build-up and Jacob Brown was ruled out some time earlier.
“It’s been a difficult, difficult spell,” Clarke said. “It’s not something that we envisaged but I think we’ve dealt with it quite well.
“We have another hurdle to cross, another game to play and when we get the day off on Saturday that I’ve promised the lads, I’ve promised myself I’m going to try and relax for 24 hours before we head off to Germany.”