Kieran Tierney blow for Scotland as Steve Clarke insists World Cup play-off is 'no time for experiments' as he names familiar squad

Scotland manager Steve Clarke believes continuity of selection is key to his hopes of leading the country into the World Cup finals in Qatar later this year.

Clarke has named a 28-man squad for what he hopes will be a five-game fixture schedule in June, kicking off with next Wednesday’s World Cup play-off semi-final against Ukraine at Hampden.

Victory in that tie would take Scotland into a play-off final against Wales in Cardiff on June 5 with three UEFA Nations League matches against Armenia (home and away) and Republic of Ireland to follow.

The Scots will be without key defender Kieran Tierney after the Arsenal player lost his race to recover in time from a knee injury which required surgery last month. Everton full-back Nathan Patterson is in the squad, despite still battling back to fitness from an ankle injury which may rule him out of the Ukraine fixture.

There were no surprises in Clarke’s squad with uncapped Sunderland striker Ross Stewart retaining his place ahead of rival claims from in-form Rangers forward Scott Wright.

Clarke is content to retain as much familiarity as possible as he looks to lead Scotland to a first World Cup finals since 1998.

“We have a good squad and we’re in a good moment,” he said. “Since the Euros last summer, the team’s improved. We’re on an eight-game unbeaten run and we’ve got to keep it going for two more games.

"Hopefully for five more in this camp – we want to go as long as possible unbeaten. The squad’s in a good place, that’s why it’s easy to keep the continuity of the group and not to pick other players. They’re not doing anything wrong – so let’s hope they keep doing things right.

“Yeah, there are more boys in your thoughts who you don’t pick. You eventually have to pick a