Steve Clarke ultimately got his team selection spot on as Scotland ended their 14-game wait for a victory against Croatia last night – but there was one Premiership star who was disappointed to see his club teammate miss out on the action.
Aberdeen full back Nicky Devlin has been one of the top performers in the league so far this season, and was rewarded with a call-up to the national team for the October internationals. The former Livingston captain made his Scotland debut as a late substitute in last month’s 0-0 draw with Portugal at Hampden and his rich vein of form saw him included in this week’s squad for the return matches in the Nations League against Croatia and Poland.
However, Devlin was to play no part in the morale-boosting win at Hampden last night, with Anthony Ralston selected ahead of him at right-back, and the Celtic defender went onto play the full game. Boss Clarke had came under fire for benching talisman John McGinn, but his decision ended up being justified with the Aston Villa coming on to bag the all-important goal four minutes from time against the 10-men of Croatia.
But Devlin’s exclusion from the starting line-up did not go down to well with Dons star Duk. After Aberdeen’s social media team on Instagram shared the news that Devlin had been named among the substitutes, forward Duk made his thoughts on Clarke’s call abundantly clear, commenting: “Boooooo” followed by a thumbs-down emoji.
Cape Verde international Duk is back in the good books at Pittodrie after previously going AWOL last summer in a bid to force a move away from the club. The ex Benfica youngster has impressed on his return to action and has helped Jimmy Thelin’s team maintain an unbeaten run in the Premiership that sees them trail leaders Celtic at the top of the table by virtue of goal difference after the first 11 matches.
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