Scotland manager Steve Clarke might’ve been initially disappointed to rock up at Ibrox and see Rangers midfielder Connor Barron on the bench.
The Tartan Army boss was in attendance in Glasgow as Rangers ran out 2-0 winners over St Johnstone courtesy of a Vaclav Cerny double.
But whilst Steve Clarke might’ve enjoyed the Scottish Premiership clash, the Scotland manager would’ve been at Ibrox on national team duties.
It’s just a shame that Rangers started with only one Scotland player – the already called up John Souttar – for the clash against the Saints.
Rangers pair get Steve Clarke Scotland audition
With Scotland having something of an injury crisis at centre-back, John Souttar will have hoped to make an impression on Steve Clarke at Ibrox.
Scotland have called up uncapped pair Liam Lindsay (Preston North End) and Nicky Devlin (Aberdeen) to the squad with Scott McKenna (Las Palmas) out due to injury.
John Souttar wasn’t involved in defeats to Poland and Portugal and will hope to play against Croatia and the Iberian nation this time out.
But the situation with Connor Barron is particularly interesting for Rangers and Scotland.
The young midfielder is in the U21 squad with Clarke preferring uncapped West Ham midfielder Andy Irving to the young Rangers star.
But with injury problems continuing to hamstring the Scotland team – Celtic’s Greg Taylor the latest to pull out – there could yet be an opportunity for Barron to step into the squad.
This is what happened last time out as Barron earned a maiden call-up, if not a maiden cap, in the last international break.
Rangers don’t want to ‘burn Connor Barron alive’
Steve Clarke might’ve then been disappointed to see Connor Barron start on the bench for Rangers in the win over St Johnstone.
The midfielder did however came on in place of Mohamed Diomande at half-time to play a more advanced role for the team.
The absence of Barron – who made a huge mistake to gift Lyon the lead in the 4-1 Europa League humbling of Rangers in the week – turned heads before the game.
So much so that ex-Rangers midfielder Derek Ferguson claimed he was ‘surprised’ by the decision, branding Barron ‘Rangers’ best player’ so far this season.
Rangers manager Philippe Clement explained that the absence of Connor Barron in the first half was due to the player’s first-team exposure this season.
“Connor Barron has been playing a lot of minutes the last weeks, the last months,” Clement told RangersTV. “So we need to see also that we don’t burn him alive.”
