Forgotten Scotland striker sends big reminder to Steve Clarke amid fears over star hitman's fitness

The 26-year-old has not featured for Scotland since November 19 last year due to picking up a serious knee injury at the start of 2024. Capped eight times, Brown recently returned from his rehab and netted his second goal of the season as Championship strugglers Luton picked up a valuable 1-0 win over the Bluebirds.

Brown netted the only goal of the game at Kenilworth Road on 57 minutes, heading home a corner from Alfie Doughty. He was then replaced by Elijah Adebayo four minutes later.

Clarke named his Scotland squad for this month’s Nations League A1 matches against Croatia at Hampden and Poland in Warsaw on Monday, selecting Che Adams, Lyndon Dykes, Lawrence Shankland and Tommy Conway as his strikers. However, there is a serious doubt over Adams’ fitness after he limped off while playing for Torino at the weekend.

While Clarke admitted that should Adams not make it - “It'll be scanned and assessed by his club, and we'll find out later in the week whether or not he'll join up,” said Clarke on Monday - he has good options already at his disposal, Brown, however, could come into his thinking if a space emerges in his squad. The former Stoke man was overlooked for Aberdeen’s Kevin Nisbet last month, but with more minutes under his belt at Luton, his goal on Wednesday may well have caught the eye.

Meanwhile, Scotland playmaker Ryan Gauld will look to fire Vancouver Whitecaps into the semi-finals of the MLS Western Conference Play-Offs in the early hours of Saturday morning.

Gauld, who is Clarke’s squad for November double-header, will captain the Whitecaps away at LAFC at BMO Stadium in the early hours of Saturday morning after their 3-0 win at the weekend levelled the series at 1-1. Fellow Scot Stuart Armstrong is also likely to be involved.