Scotland hero Andy Robertson opens up on Lyndon Dykes injury blow

ANDY ROBERTSON admits Lyndon Dykes’ freak injury left Scotland’s stars spooked as the clock ticks down to Germany.

Skipper Robbo admits watching what happened hit home just how precarious everyone’s place in Steve Clarke’s squad is with the big kick off in Munich now just days away. 

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But he’s delighted Dykes has made the call to stay with his team-mates and travel to Germany as part of the squad. 

Robertson said: “Losing Lyndon was a tough one for all of us and it’s made us all a bit… we just want to get to Germany now. 

“When you see one of your friends fall in a strange way on the pitch, it’s a bit of a tough one for the squad. 

“Everyone has that at the back of their mind. 

“I spoke to Lyndon, not to tell him to stay because that will be his own choice. 

“But to be fair to the big man, he wants to be with us and is keen to be involved. 

“He doesn’t want to miss out, his family are all booked and I spoke to his wife at the hotel, she’s looking forward to it too. 

“It’s great he’s still coming because he’s a big part of what we do. 

“He can’t contribute on the field but he can contribute on it and if the big man wants to do that then it’s happy days for us because he’s a big part of the squad. 

“Nobody was going to force him if his headspace wasn’t right, but fair play to him he’s managed to get over it a lot quicker than I would. 

“We’d love him to be on the pitch but the next best thing is being there off the pitch with us.” 

Scotland got back to winning ways with Monday’s 2-0 win over Gibraltar and Robertson admits that was needed after seven games without a victory. 

The Liverpool left-back knows they’ll have to crank the performance up again when Finland visit Hampden on Friday night. 

And he’s certain Clarke’s side are ready to recover the form which propelled them to Germany in the first place. 

He said: “We need to get back to that because the first half of the campaign was exceptional. 

“Then we had a little drop but we took some tough friendlies against good nations and maybe that knocked our confidence a bit. 

“Maybe we suffered a bit because of that, but we’d already qualified. 

“Obviously March was disappointing but it was good to get the win on Monday. 

“We know we were expected to and it would have been a disaster if we didn’t. 

“But we did and hopefully we can build the momentum again with a good performance and result on Friday. 

“We don’t lack confidence, a lot of the lads have had good seasons at their clubs.

“So it’s about taking that forward, going back to basics and doing the things we did successfully in the first half of the campaign. 

“If we do that I think we can give anyone a game on the day.” 

With Dykes out injured as well as squad stalwarts Aaron Hickey, Nathan Patterson and Lewis Ferguson, Clarke’s plans have been thrown into chaos. 

But Robertson is sure call-ups like Ross McCrorie, who made his debut against Gibraltar, will cope with the rapid rise with a bit of help from their senior colleagues. 

He said: “The experienced lads always help the new lads who have come in and the less experienced ones.

“We will step up again and what I can say is the young lads are fearless in our team. 

“They don’t need much help but we’re always there for them. 

“Ross McCrorie made an impressive debut and while we’ve got a few who have a low number of caps that’s part and parcel of it. 

“Unfortunately we have lost quite a few boys to injury, lads who couldn’t be called up and ones who have pulled out. 

“Obviously that’s not ideal preparation but we have some coming back against the clock and hopefully they make it. 

“But it is what it is, that’s Scotland.

“We’re looking forward to it, it’s not going to stop us going there to enjoy it and compete.

“We are where we want to be, the Gibraltar game was a good thing for us to get back to winning ways. 

“To get confidence, back to playing together and to get people minutes on the pitch. 

“So it was a worthwhile exercise then Friday will be a bit of a tougher task. 

“It will be perfect for us to step it up again and then we’ll focus on the Germany game.” 

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