BILLY McKinlay, forced to pull out of the Scotland squad this week, is hoping to shake off a knee injury to be fit for Blackburn Rovers' crucial game at Southampton on Saturday.

But it could be touch and go for Rovers striker Chris Sutton, who has a hamstring strain and faces a late fitness test.

McKinlay has had the knee problem for some time but Rovers believe the break since the last game against Sheffield Wednesday has helped.

Tony Parkes, however, will be concerned about Sutton, who had to be substituted against Wednesday.

Hamstring strains usually take a minimum of 10 days so it could be a close call before the manager knows whether he can count on his leading scorer.

If everyone was passed fit, he could well name an unchanged side, operating with three central defenders again.

That would mean Graeme Le Saux continuing in a wing-back role, despite more words about the future from the England international this week.

Parkes said: "We just want to get these three games out of the way. We need a win to keep us in the Premiership and that's all we are thinking about. "Graeme has had one or two things to say and the club will be ready to sit down and talk to him once we have finished. I am sure the club will sort things out with anyone who has a problem but we don't want to get involved at the moment."

Parkes will also spend an anxious couple of days before all his internationals return from various parts of Europe.

Danish striker Per Pedersen, a likely replacement if Sutton is unfit, recovered from a shoulder injury to score for his country in their 4-0 win over Slovenia.

Greece, with George Donis, are second to the Danes in Group One but their hopes were hit by a 1-0 defeat at home to Croatia.

Henning Berg and Lars Bohinen can expect to see Norway in next year's finals, even though they were held at home, 1-1 by Finland.

And Jeff Kenna and Shay Given faced a long trek back from Romania after the Republic of Ireland's 1-0 defeat.

The biggest talking point, however, came in Sweden where Scotland, including Colin Hendry and Kevin Gallacher, seemed to suffer from controversial refereeing. Gallacher certainly had a night of mixed fortunes as Scotland's bid for a place in the World Cup finals suffered a setback with their 2-1 defeat.

He rocked Sweden by pulling a goal back seven minutes from time, then appeared to be impeded by ex-Rover Patrik Andersson as he broke forward in the dying seconds.

TV replays indicated he had been fouled but the referee waved away appeals for a penalty.

Gallacher said: "The rest of the boys said the referee had the whistle in his mouth.

"I was stumbling and maybe I should have gone down. Maybe I was too honest by staying on my feet.

"But the way the referee was towards us, perhaps I would have been booked if I had fallen."

Rovers Reserves visit Manchester United tonight (kick-off 7pm) knowing that, if they fail to win, the Pontin's League Premier Division title will go to Old Trafford.

United are four points clear of their only challengers Rovers and the two clubs meet again at Ewood on Monday.

Rovers have to win both games to stand a chance of the championship, while United still have an extra match to play.

Converted for the new archive on 14 July 2000. Some images and formatting may have been lost in the conversion.