Scott McKenna dealt Scotland injury blow as Nottingham Forest defender faces race against time for Cyprus and Spain

Nottingham Forest centre-back Scott McKenna looks set to miss Scotland's Euro 2024 qualifiers next month after being ruled out for six weeks.

The former Aberdeen defender pulled up in Forest's loss to Fulham at the weekend with a hamstring injury and as a result will be sidelined for a month and a half. Steve Clarke's men are set for a double header at Hampden Park against Cyprus on March 25 then Spain three days later. Both crunch ties are expected to come too early for the 26-year-old who recently won his place back in the Forest team after being dropped in previous months.

Both Forest centre-backs (McKenna and Willy Boly) were forced off at the weekend at Craven Cottage and manager Steve Cooper says it is not looking good for either of them. The defenders were taken off in the same minute with hamstring injuries in the 2-0 defeat in west London. It has meant Forest have appealed to the Premier League to recall Steve Cook to their 25-man squad after he was initially left out last month.

Speaking at his press conference earlier today, Cooper said: "It's not great. Scott is going to be out for six weeks - Willy is even worse and we're looking at longer than three months. It's not the news we were hoping for. I know it's a bit of a talking point, our injuries, but there's no crying from us.

"We'd like it to be different but we have to be positive, we have to play with a can-do mentality because if we don't no-one else will believe us. We have applied through Premier League rules to bring Steve back into the 25-man squad. We are more than hopeful it will be fine, we are expecting that to happen with the circumstances we find ourselves in. He has had a very productive 12 months for us, we're all fond of him here.

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