LEE WILKIE: Why is Dundee's Jon McCracken not in for Scotland?

A penny for Jon McCracken’s thoughts when watching Scotland over the past few days.

The Scotland goalkeeping situation is a complete mess right now.

I feel for the Dundee goalie because he must be hugely frustrated when a player who has played nine minutes of first-team football in the past season gets in ahead of him.

Yes, McCracken has been out of the Dundee team for a while but he played 16 Premiership matches for the Dark Blues last season.

That’s more than all three goalkeepers in the squad for the Liechtenstein game.

And he did well enough to earn a call-up to the Scotland squad in September.

Scotland head coach Steve Clarke. Image: Alan Harvey/SNS

He’s not become a bad keeper since then – if he was good enough then, he’s good enough now to be in the squad ahead of the younger guys.

Pivotal season

It must be a massive frustration for players pushing to get into the international setup to see players called up by Steve Clarke even if they aren’t playing at club level.

It’s clear Clarke is annoyed by the lack of options in goal.

What is also clear is there are opportunities for guys like McCracken to force their way in.

This will be a pivotal season for the young Dundee goalie.