Kenny McLean confesses Scotland Euros pain as he shuts down World Cup 'extra motivation' poser

Kenny McLean has become Steve Clarke’s go-to guy after his regular starters run out of steam or a tactical tweak is needed.

And while many of the Norwich midfielder’s 25 caps have come from the bench, that hasn’t stopped McLean becoming one of the most important members of the Scotland squad – and when it comes to penalty shoot-outs, he’s the man.

The former St Mirren and Aberdeen player’s nerveless spot-kicks saw Scotland through to the Euros against Israel and Serbia, only for a knee injury to deny him a place at the championships.

But now the 30-year-old is just two games away from making the World Cup.

And he hopes to have the chance to impress Clarke tomorrow night in a friendly against Austria that might be meaningless to Scotland’s hosts, given that their Qatar dreams were ended by Wales last week, but is hugely important to McLean and his mates.

Then again, the Cambuslang-born midfielder relishes every opportunity to pull on a blue shirt and gaining his 25th cap against Poland last week was a career milestone.

“Playing for your country is something everyone wants to do when they are growing up, so to get to 25 is a pretty good achievement,” he smiled. “Hopefully, I’ve got some more in me.

“Going through school, you don’t really think it’s possible but I’ve worked hard to do it and I’m grateful.

“The Poland game was good, although losing the penalty at the end was disappointing. But I’ve been going away with Scotland for a few years now and have built some caps up, so getting to 25 is a bit of a milestone and I’d like to think there will be some more to come.

“I’m no spring chicken, but I do think I’ve got a bit left in me and still have something to offer the group, so we’ll see how far I can go.”

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