Key Takeaways
- Ross Stewart has netted nine times in 28 games for Southampton despite injury lay-off.
- Oli McBurnie has 16 goals and seven assists for Hull City this season.
- Steve Clarke still favours Che Adams and Lyndon Dykes, who managed only seven shots on target in six qualifiers.
Scotland’s attack has gone cold. Two friendlies, zero goals. Yet the men banging them in at club level are still outside Steve Clarke’s plans.
Ross Stewart, fit again after three injury-hit seasons, has scored every 120 minutes for Southampton and dumped both Fulham and Arsenal out of the FA Cup. Oli McBurnie has 16 strikes for Hull City and rang the Leicester net on Tuesday. Neither looks likely to board the plane to the World Cup.
Clarke leans on loyalty. Che Adams and Lyndon Dykes started the recent qualifiers and are pencilled in again, even though they mustered only seven attempts on target between them across the whole campaign. Adams took six of those shots, Dykes one.
Stats place Stewart top of an informal “Scotland striker table” for 2024-25, followed by McBurnie. Lawrence Shankland is third and almost certain to travel, while George Hirst’s ten goals for promotion-chasing Ipswich keep him in the frame. Dykes sits eighth.
McBurnie last played for Scotland five years ago and admits Clarke gave him little hope of a recall. Stewart has never been capped. Both keep scoring, but the manager appears set to stick with the forwards who secured qualification, arguing that chemistry beats current form.
Fans ask what more the pair must do. For now, the answer seems to be: wait for another tournament.
