Ross Doohan ditches family holiday to answer Scotland call for keeper cover
Doohan was on a family trip to Turkey after being part of Aberdeen's Scottish Cup-winning squad but took a detour to Liechtenstein after Angus Gunn and Robby McCrorie suffered injuries on Friday.
Those blows saw 22-year-old Cieran Slicker handed a debut in the seventh minute against Iceland and the Ipswich player endured a difficult night as Scotland lost 3-1.
The Under-21 international quickly conceded after giving the ball away himself and lost two more soft goals as he struggled with the occasion.
With Craig Gordon, Liam Kelly and Zander Clark already unavailable through injury, Clarke has turned to Doohan for experienced cover.
The 27-year-old has been called up along with 18-year-old Bournemouth keeper Callan McKenna – who was already training with the squad – for Monday's friendly in Vaduz.
Clarke, who has also lost Scott McTominay and Kieran Tierney to injury, succinctly explained the logistics of his late call-up: 'Phone call. Are you available? Yes. Can you get a flight? Yes. And there he was, in the hotel.
'He'd been away with his family. It says everything, but a chance to join up with the national squad is not something you turn down, not in my book anyway.'
Clarke would not divulge who will play in goal in the Rheinpark Stadium but he appears ready to hand Doohan a debut, citing the 'good experience' of a player who has turned out for the likes of Ayr, Ross County, Dundee United, Tranmere and Forest Green.
Squad update.
IN: Ross Doohan & Callan McKenna.OUT: Angus Gunn & Robby McCrorie.
Congratulations to both goalkeepers on their first senior call-ups 👏#LIESCO pic.twitter.com/JX0jrSs5VS
— Scotland National Team (@ScotlandNT) June 8, 2025
The former Celtic youth player has been tipped to return to Parkhead this summer with his Dons contract set to expire after making 18 appearances as back-up to Dimitar Mitov.
'He's got over 150 senior games,' Clarke said. 'One of the things we were trying to find was somebody who'd trained pretty late into the season, so obviously Ross had been involved in the cup final not that long ago, so it's not as if he's going to be deconditioned or out of practice.'
Clarke has tried to build Slicker's confidence after a difficult introduction to international football.
'Obviously we've touched on it,' he said. 'Listen, everybody makes a big thing about Cieran. If you play a young goalkeeper, there's a chance he'll make mistakes.
'If you go through the three goals, we should have dealt much better with the two set plays.
'The first one's a clearance on his weaker foot that doesn't quite clear the boy in midfield. When the ball comes to the two blocks, we allow the striker to turn and shoot, and nobody was saving that shot because it was a great finish. So that's just the way it is.
'Cieran's a good goalkeeper. Trains well, works well in the camp when he's in. He's just had an unfortunate night.
'He'll bounce back from it, he'll do well at his club. He needs to play more games, he knows that. He needs to play more games regularly, but he's got a big future in front of him.'
Squad update.
Scott McTominay and Kieran Tierney both withdraw from the Scotland squad due to injury. #LIESCO
— Scotland National Team (@ScotlandNT) June 8, 2025
Clarke is set to make changes after Friday's defeat left them in dire need of a win to restore confidence ahead of the World Cup qualifiers.
'The team will be freshened up a little bit,' he said. 'Probably a little bit more than I normally do. More than one anyway.
'Scott and Kieran both came into camp carrying some little issues over from the season. I think if we'd had a longer turnaround between the games they might have had a chance, but this is the end of season for those two.
'The most important thing is to have a good rest over the summer and come back flying in the autumn.'
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