Relief for O’Neill as Gibson available for Scotland tie

Everton boss Roberto Martinez has confirmed that the injury sustained by Darron Gibson is not as bad as first feared and – and Martin O’Neill will be pleased to learn – the midfielder is not now regarded as a doubt for Ireland’s match against Scotland on November 14.

Gibson was forced to withdraw from training on Wednesday afternoon after suffering a blow to his knee but the Blues boss said yesterday that the injury is nothing to worry about.

“We’re going to assess him but all it was, it was a block to a shot and he had to stop training,” said Martinez. “I don’t think it’s a big problem, I don’t think you can consider it a real injury.