Ben Doak OUT of Euros in latest injury hammer blow for Scotland

BEN DOAK has been ruled OUT of the Euros in a the latest injury blow to Scotland ahead of the tournament.

And boss Steve Clarke HAS called up another striker in the wake of the news, with Lyndon Dykes also dropping out due to injury last week.

Uncapped Liverpool wonderkid Doak was included in Clarke’s initial 28-man provisional squad for Germany, after SunSport exclusively revealed he was being considered for a shock call-up by the national team manager.

A statement from the SFA read: “Ahead of Friday’s match against Finland, Steve Clarke has called Tommy Conway into his squad.

“Sadly, Ben Doak has been withdrawn from the #EURO2024 squad through injury.

“Ben – we know we’ll see you entertaining crowds at Hampden in a Scotland shirt soon.”

Dykes was pictured being stretchered-off from training at Lesser Hampden last Friday, sparking concern that he would be unavailable for Germany 2024.

And 24 hours later, worst fears were confirmed when the 28-year old was indeed RULED OUT of the finals.

It was a devastating blow for Clarke, losing the figurehead of his attack.

Scotland ended a run of seven games without a win by beating Gibraltar 2-0 in Portugal last night.

But it was a game where the Scots toiled in front of goal, spurning a number of golden chances before Ryan Christie made the breakthrough.

Che Adams – who will more than likely be Scotland‘s main striker at the Euros in Dykes’ absence – came off the bench to blast home the second.

In the wake of Dykes’ injury, Clarke revealed he was considering his options with regards bringing a replacement into the setup.

And that decision has now been made.

Conway will be added to the squad ahead of the tournament and could get his first taste of action in dark blue on Friday night against Finland.

The Bristol City star notched ten goals in 39 appearances in the Championship in the season just gone, and struck the only goal for the Scotland Under-21s against Turkey on Monday night in a 2-1 loss.

Clarke previously suggested his unofficial standby list would consist of players currently in the Under-21 set up, such as Aberdeen midfielder Connor Barron.

Conway, 21, was therefore always likely to be at the front of the queue to replace Dykes ahead of other options such as Kevin Nisbet, Jacob Brown and Ryan Hardie.

And Clarke alluded to that last night as he namechecked Conway as a potential Dykes replacement following his strike for the youth side.

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