Houston positive despite pull outs

09 August 2010 18:30

Scotland assistant manager Peter Houston played down the disruption to Craig Levein's plans for the friendly match against Sweden in Stockholm on Wednesday.

The Scotland squad flew out from Glasgow airport on Monday afternoon with six players missing after Lee McCulloch (viral infection), Alan Hutton (groin), Andy Webster (hamstring), Graham Dorrans (groin), David Marshall (elbow) and Scott Brown (foot) had to stand down.

But Houston tried to put a positive spin on the situation, saying: "We are not the only international team who is going to have call-offs. It happens sometimes in international football."

He added: "It just so happens that it is the week before the season starts so I'm sure the clubs will want the players back for next Saturday.

"What we have here is a good squad of players and when there are call-offs the manager looks for people to come in and do a job.

"And we have a squad who can do a good job in Sweden.

"The result isn't the be-all and end-all in this particular game.

"However, we want to do well. We will work extremely hard and I think this squad is capable of getting a result in Sweden."

Source: PA