STEVE CLARKE will give Nathan Patterson every chance to prove his fitness ahead of Scotland's World Cup semi-final play-off against Ukraine.
The Everton full-back has been out injured since March after undergoing a procedure on an ankle injury, and hasn't played since turning out for his country in the 2-2 friendly draw in Austria during the last international break.
He is now fit and available, but Clarke will gauge his sharpness over the next few days before making a call on whether or not to pitch him at Hampden on Wednesday night.
“Well, he is not going to be match fit because he hasn’t played," Clarke said.
"I think the last time he played was for us. He played for us in the March games. He lasted about an hour, 65 minutes in the first and an hour in the second.
"He was unfortunate because I had a chat with Frank Lampard after those games and Nathan was going back to start for Everton against West Ham, and he got injured the day before the game, which put him out for the rest of the season. He was unlucky from that point of view. That was disappointing and obviously for us as well.
“I will just gauge when he comes in. I think when he joins up with us it will be his first chance to train with a group of players. He has been working on his own and it is always different when you go into group training and you start to work.
“So we will just have to look at Nathan and we will make a judgement on that as we see him in the training.”
