Craig Gordon in Scotland sweat for Ireland as Steve Clarke reveals maternity ward dash is looming for goalkeeper

Steve Clarke is keeping fingers crossed he can call upon Craig Gordon for the Nations League tie with Ireland as the Scotland No.1 braces himself for a late dash to the maternity ward.

The Hearts keeper almost missed Wednesday’s win over Ukraine as he raced to be at partner Summer’s bedside as they await the birth of their second child together. The hospital drama proved to be a false alarm and Gordon was able to return to the Scotland camp with just four hours to spare before his side kicked off their 3-0 Hampden win.

But with the expectant mum-to-be already 10 days past her due date, Clarke is wary another twinge could throw his plans for this evening’s clash with Stephen Kenny’s team into chaos. The Scots boss said: “It’s something we have to monitor and we are monitoring it. It’s possible we’ll have the same sort of Saturday as we had on Wednesday. But the most important part of that is that mum and baby do well.”

Clarke could conceivably have another reason to change his plans if Group B1 rivals Ukraine suffer a surprise slip-up away to Armenia in today’s 2pm kick-off. That would give the national team boss a couple of hours to decide whether to rest up some of his top stars ahead of Tuesday’s clash with Oleksandr Petrakov’s team in Poland, where a win would seal first place in the group and a guaranteed Euro 2024 play-off slot.

But Clarke said: “I think Ukraine will beat Armenia and that’s the thought we have to take. My coaches are holding on to the hope that Armenia can get something from the game.

“But I’m just focusing on the fact Ukraine will win and we then have to deal with the two games our way. The ultimate aim of this week is to go to the last game against Ukraine with a realistic chance of topping