Smith laments loss of Dailly as O’Connor still AWOL

SCOTLAND boss Walter Smith insists the loss of Christian Dailly for the European Championship qualifier in Ukraine will be much harder to overcome than the absence of Garry O’Connor.

A yellow card for time-wasting during the 1-0 win over France at Hampden Park on Saturday means the West Ham defender will miss the match in Kiev.

However, Scotland striker O’Connor chose not to join up with the rest of the squad at the team hotel on Sunday after coming off the bench against the French. The Lokomotiv Moscow forward has not travelled to Ukraine and Smith remains in the dark over his reasons for not linking up with the squad.

But the former Rangers and Everton boss maintains the absence of the 23-year-old forward has barely registered in his plans for the game. Smith said: “There has not been any disruption to the squad really. It was just a player going out.

“We lost Christian Dailly to suspension and that is far more of a blow to us. No disrespect to Garry O’Connor, but he has not played in the side for as long as Christian.”

Smith added: “I have not spoken to Garry or his agent (Gary Mackay). If he has a reason why he did not turn up, I will listen to that and we can take it into account. We just have to wait until we find out.”

Hearts defender Robbie Neilson could make his Scotland debut as a replacement for Dailly. Smith will draft Kenny Miller back into the team, after the Celtic striker was forced to miss the victory over France through suspension.

But the Scotland boss is loathe to make the changes which the suspension of Dailly demand.

Smith added: “It is a little bit disappointing when you get a good result and you are forced to make some changes we would not have made otherwise.”

Ukraine are also expected to make at least one change to their line-up following the 2-0 defeat in Italy at the weekend. Andriy Shevchenko missed the match in Rome with a virus, but the Chelsea striker has returned to training and looks set to start the match.

And the Scotland boss concedes the return of the 30-year-old does not represent good news for the visitors. Smith said: “He is not just another player, he is an exceptionally good player.

“Ukraine have a lot of good, professional players and one absolutely outstanding one. It is a little unfortunate for us that he has recovered in time.”

But Smith insists every single member of his team is ready for the task in Kiev after basking in the glow of their win over France.

Gary Caldwell scored the only goal of the game in the 67th minute at Hampden to stun the World Cup finalists. But the Scotland boss insists his players remain grounded as they prepare for the match against Ukraine.

Smith said: “It hasn’t been difficult bringing everyone back down to earth. Everyone has an awareness that we face a very difficult task in each of the games we play. Everybody enjoyed the result on Saturday and, hopefully, they will give us the same effort and determination and we can continue to achieve.

“But we know there will be difficult tasks ahead and there will be games where it will not go for us and we will lose – it will be our reaction to that which we will have to show.

“Hopefully, though, it will not happen on Wednesday and I don’t think it will.”