Poor Cieran Slicker... Scotland boss Steve Clarke is responsible for throwing the young keeper into a game he clearly wasn't ready for after only nine minutes of action this season

Daily Mail​

4 days ago

This should have been one of the proudest moments of Cieran Slicker's life. A career highlight as he made his Scotland debut at Hampden Park.
There were barely five minutes on the clock and Slicker was having to get himself stripped and ready to replace the injured Angus Gunn.
Winning his first cap was a moment he would have dreamed about for years - but it swiftly turned into a nightmare for the young goalkeeper.
Slicker had only been on the pitch for a matter of seconds before his poor clearance gifted Iceland the ball.
He was soon picking the ball out the back of his net after Andri Gudjohnsen lasered one into the top corner.
If that was a slightly ropey start for Slicker, his night soon got a whole lot worse. A bag of nerves throughout, this turned into a horror show.
His distribution was awful. If he wasn't shanking the ball straight out of play, he was passing it straight to an opposition player.
He essentially dived over the ball when Lewis Ferguson skewed into his own net just before half-time, before missing the ball altogether as Victor Palsson made it 3-1.
What ought to have been a routine save turned into another moment of utterly calamity as the ball flew straight through Slicker's gloves and into the net.
In those moments, it was hard not to feel sorry for him. His confidence was totally shot and you could see it written all over his face.
But this is what happens when Steve Clarke calls up guys who are third choice for an Ipswich Town team who have just been relegated from the English Premier League.
Prior to Friday night, Slicker had played nine minutes of competitive football all season, a 3-0 FA Cup win over Bristol Rovers back in January.
Slicker struggled to even make the Ipswich bench throughout the season, let alone threaten the first team.
He is 22 years old and has never played a single league game at senior level. Yet, here he was, thrust into the limelight when he shouldn't be anywhere near a Scotland squad.
If he feels a sense of embarrassment about what unfolded, Clarke should be held responsible for pitching him in when he clearly wasn't ready for it.
This will probably rank as one of the worst Scotland debuts of all-time. Slicker will be lucky ever to play again for Scotland after this, such was the level of humiliation.
There was a very plausible argument that Clarke should have taken him off at half-time. All the more so when he blundered for Palsson's goal shortly after the break.
Slicker could have walked down the middle of Buchanan Street yesterday and enjoyed total anonymity, but not now.
This game made him a figure of Tartan Army infamy. This will forever be remembered as the Cieran Slicker game.
Clarke spoke recently about the lack of options available with the keepers. The crisis is looming ever larger now. At this rate, Craig Gordon will be playing until he's picking up his pension.