Euro 2024 qualifiers: Zander Clark & Angus Gunn in Scotland squad for Spain & Cyprus games

A split picture of Zander Clark and Angus Gunn — Zander Clark and Angus Gunn will be competing for the Scotland goalkeeper’s jersey

Uncapped Zander Clark and Angus Gunn have been included in Scotland’s squad for this month’s opening Euro 2024 qualifiers against Cyprus and Spain.

First choice goalkeeper Craig Gordon, 40, is injured long term and Clark, 30, has taken Gordon’s place at Hearts.

Norwich stopper Gunn, 27, committed his international future to Scotland after being capped by England Under-21s.

Liam Kelly is picked again and Scotland manager Steve Clarke says it’s “all to play for” among the three keepers.

Queens Park Rangers striker Lyndon Dykes makes the squad after a recent spell in hospital with illness.

The Scots host Cyprus on 25 March (14:00 GMT) then Spain on 28 March (19:45 BST).

Clark has previously been in the squad and Motherwell’s Kelly and fellow uncapped stopper Robby McCrorie, of Rangers, were on the bench for Scotland’s November friendly defeat in Turkey.

Gunn’s father Bryan played six times for Scotland in the early 1990s and also had a lengthy spell at Norwich.

Clarke heard of the younger Gunn’s interest in representing Scotland “through a third party” before meeting him at Norwich.

“He’s part of the squad and a very welcome part of the squad too,” Clarke said.

“We’ve lost Craig Gordon injured, which is a massive blow to us. Craig was the undisputed number one. I just felt that if we could improve the pool of goalkeepers, that’s what we should do.”

‘Most of the boys have had a lot of minutes’

Hearts forward Lawrence Shankland, who has scored 21 goals this season, misses out, having also been absent from his club’s past two games while injured Nottingham Forest defender Scott McKenna is not included.

“Lawrence was right at the front of my mind,” Clarke said. “Probably the fact that he’s picked up a little injury, I think his hamstring, might just have swayed me to go the other way.

“I’ve got Lyndon back. I wasn’t really expecting Lyndon to be fit. I watched him play for QPR at the weekend. He was on the pitch for 56 minutes and he looked okay to me.”

Defenders Liam Cooper, Nathan Patterson and Kieran Tiernan are selected, despite limited game time at Leeds, Everton and Arsenal, respectively.

Similarly, midfielders Stuart Armstrong, Billy Gilmour and Scott McTominay and forward Ryan Christie are called up after infrequent Premier League appearances of late.

“If you look over the course of the season, most of the boys have had a lot of minutes,” Clarke said.

“There’s one or two in the squad that maybe I’ve been a little bit loyal to, to bring them in and keep them involved in it. That’s important because the ones that I’m speaking about will be a big part of the Scotland squad moving forward, I hope.”

Celtic captain Callum McGregor returns to the squad after missing the November friendly defeat by Turkey due to injury while defenders Cooper and Aaron Hickey are also back.

However, Liverpool right-back Calvin Ramsay does not feature after making his senior international debut in Diyarbakir while 10-times capped Celtic left-back Greg Taylor is also omitted.