Dykes brings the chaos but Adams is still the man for big occasions

SOMETIMES, a player just has to make do with being a supersub. Fresh from scoring his first goals for Scotland in over a year with a brace off the bench against Ukraine, it is starting to look like that might be the way of it for big Lyndon Dykes.

Following that sparkling win over Oleksandr Petrakov’s side last Wednesday, much of the chat had been about whether Steve Clarke has to make a straight pick between Andy Robertson and Kieran Tierney at left-back if he is going to stick with a flat back four.

Yet, given the talent at his disposal, the national coach has decisions to make in all areas of his team. Including up front. Particularly if his formation is going to continue with a solitary striker.

Dykes was given the call to lead the line against Ireland last night in place of Che Adams and hammer home the fact that largely underwhelming form at club level need not be an impediment to pushing his international career from strength to strength.

Sadly, he found himself caught up in another disappointingly jumbled and schizophrenic Scotland performance that delivered a win, but could have ended in disaster had Craig Gordon not been on hand to save from Troy Parrott on 56 minutes with the scores 1-1 and the dark blue rearguard sprung open — not for the first time — in frightening fashion.

Dykes never got any really decent service as Clarke’s side failed to get close to the levels shown against the Ukrainians. In spite of that, when they go back in against Petrakov and his players in Poland in two days’ time, you’d say it has to be Adams entrusted with the responsibility.

If a nighttime Scotland game is becoming more like an evening at the dancing — with all the flashing disco lights and Europop ahead of kick-off — Dykes is the bloke you’d find standing at the front door asking how much you’d had to drink and explaining, politely but firmly, that it was regulars only.

Never to deny a man his right to self-expression, it still has to be said that those neck tattoos running around the jawline are ever so slightly intimidating. His all-action style, lusty and committed, has been known to put the wind up opposition defenders as well.

Being honest, Adams comes across as a more complete player than the Queens Park Rangers man. Looking forward, if Scotland are to stay with one up front, as looks likely, Dykes appears best placed to come off the bench when you need a goal with 20 minutes to play and cause some chaos.

Precisely the way he did when scoring twice against Ukraine at Hampden. Again, last night, put into the team from the first whistle, it never really happened for him.

He made way for Adams with five minutes left and it would be a major shock if the Southampton man wasn’t back in the starting XI next time out.

It looked promising for Dykes early on, mind you, with some clever fourth-minute interplay with Scott McTominay that ended with him looking for a second return pass in the area — only for the ball to take a nick off an Irish defender and finish up in the hands of goalkeeper Gavin Bazuma.

From there on in, though, he was feeding off scraps. Indeed, it was his headed clearance from James McClean’s 18th-minute corner that precipitated Ireland’s opener from John Egan.

Dykes was then penalised by Swiss referee Sandro Scharer over a joust with Egan on the half hour and was guilty of a slack lay-off moments later after moving on to a forward pass from McTominay.

He did win a header to set up John McGinn for an effort that went wide before the break, but his only real sight of goal in that first half came in the dying moments. He got the run on Egan down the right to give himself a chance to shoot, but he delayed when it mattered and permitted the Sheffield United defender to put in a saving tackle.

Egan got a good block in on him again on 55 minutes, with Jack Hendry having made it 1-1, when he cushioned a delicate ball from Callum McGregor and released a shot. Nathan Collins then got the better of him in the air a little later as he tried to connect with an Aaron Hickey cross.

If Dykes looks like a nightclub bouncer, plenty of players in this limited, agricultural Ireland side certainly behave like one. They finished up with five players booked in the end after a tousy, scrappy encounter that saw Hendry picking fights with all sorts before receiving a yellow card himself.

How they didn’t end up with more names in the book is a mystery. There were several incidents which referee Scharer could — and should — have taken greater interest in.

No one felt the force of that Irish muscle more than Tierney. It started pretty much on the quarter-hour when he was left pole-axed, holding the side of his face, after appearing to be caught with the arm of Matt Doherty as they jumped for the ball out wide.

The Arsenal man was down again when being pushed by Troy Parrott before he put in a header that was saved by Craig Gordon ahead of the referee giving a free-kick for the infringement. And his game ended thanks to more rough-house play shortly before the half-time interval.

While competing for at a corner, it looked as though Tierney may have had his arm pulled by Parrott before going down. Scotland didn’t appear to claim for a penalty, though, and there was no intervention from VAR.

Instead, after a period of treatment, Tierney walked off round the trackside to be replaced by Greg Taylor, who was welcomed to the occasion minutes later with Matt Doherty leaving a foot in on his calf muscle as he ushered the ball out for a goal-kick.

How Doherty avoided going into the referee’s book is a mystery. He thumped Ryan Christie from behind in the second half to give away a free-kick. By then, Aaron Hickey had already been taken off injured — the latest in our range of full-backs to bite the dust.

Still, patched-up and playing badly, Scotland got there in the end to make sure captain John McGinn’s landmark 50th appearance ended on the right note.

It would be nice if they could now conclude the Nations League campaign in style with a win. Certainly, a point against Ukraine and a guaranteed Euro 2024 play-off place is crucial.

Yet, there remain so many questions about Scotland’s upand-down form that you never know what you’ll get. Here’s hoping it’s more like the second half of last week’s Ukraine game. Dykes can certainly feel free to jump off the bench again and steal the limelight if he fancies it.