EVEN friendlies can leave a trail of destruction.
Billy Stark's Under-21 side are facing a goalkeeping crisis ahead of their crucial European Championship double header against Luxembourg and Austria next month after Mark Ridgers, of Hearts, sustained a potentially serious knee injury during this defeat by Belgium.
Ridgers crumpled to the turf in agony after a first-half collision with Belgium's Thomas Meunier, and will be assessed by SFA doctors this morning. He is almost certain to join Grant Adam on the sidelines, with the St Mirren goalkeeper out for months with a fractured tibia and cruciate ligament damange, meaning that the task of keeping goal as the Scots hope to book a play-off place for the finals in Israel in 2013 is likely to fall to Tottenham Hotspur's Jordan Archer, a 19-year-old who has never started a match at this level.
Remarkably the setback comes just one match after Stark got through three goalkeepers in one game, also due to injury, in the friendly against Italy in April. "The big minus is that we have lost a goalkeeper to injury again," Stark said. "Three times in the last three games we have lost a goalkeeper to injury. He has got a bang on his knee and we are hopeful but we will just have to wait and see. Jordan came in against a good side and proved he could do well."
Archer could do nothing to keep out the effort by Anderlecht's Ziggy Badibanga which settled this match, but that was no slight on the goalkeeper, as the striker's shot was precise, following a cute double-drag-back on the edge of the box. And he did produce decent saves to defy a free-kick from Thorgan Hazard, Eden's little brother and Chelsea clubmate, and substitute Dolly Menga. Impressive as he was, the uncertainty over the position is another handicap for Stark, who is already almost certain to be without James Forrest and Jordan Rhodes for the home game with Luxembourg and trip to Austria which will define their campaign due to a clash with the full team's opening World Cup double header against Serbia and Macedonia.
Stark's designs on making it to Israel next summer are predicated on the Scots retaining second place in Group 10 behind the Netherlands, making the list of four best runners up. At least the Scots have more chance of reaching the promised land than yesterday's visitors. Despite an enviable production line in recent seasons bringing through the likes of Vincent Kompany and Marouane Fellaini, Belgium currently trail England and Norway in qualifying Group 8, despite a 2-1 win over Stuart Pearce's side earlier in the campaign. With the side captained by Manchester City defender Dedryck Boyata, the headline act here was Hazard junior, quietly snapped up by Chelsea for £880,000 from Lens while his vaunted brother was arriving from Lille. Matches like these can be uneventful, anodyne affairs but not so yesterday. Scott Allan, the West Brom playmaker, is desperate to make an impact this season after a successful loan spell at Portsmouth, and a sign of his urgency came when he earned a booking for clattering his opposite number Hannes van der Bruggen, of Gent, twice within the first 10 minutes. A second yellow would have ruled him out of the Luxembourg match and, after getting the benefit of the doubt for a third foul, it was something of a relief when he was replaced by Stoke City new boy Jamie Ness at the interval.
By then Ridgers had left the action, signalling immediately to the bench and writhing in agony, after a fine pass from Badibanga had led to an unfortunate 50-50 between himself and Meunier.
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