Football: Hope for Hendry

Craig Brown is confident that the Blackburn defender, Colin Hendry, will be fit for Scotland's opening World Cup qualifying match in Austria on Saturday. Hendry shrugged off the discomfort of a groin injury to play in his club's 2-2 draw against Manchester United at Old Trafford on Sunday.

"His problem is a deep seated groin injury but he has been playing with it and he should be okay," said the Scotland manager, who has no plans to draft in replacement players despite the loss of John Spencer of Chelsea and Blackburn's Billy McKinlay over the weekend.

The Watford striker David Connolly is out of the Republic of Ireland squad for their World Cup Group Eight qualifying tie away to Liechtenstein on Saturday after picking up a hamstring injury during Saturday's 2-0 home defeat by Millwall.

Manchester United's Nicky Butt, Chelsea's Jody Morris and Queen's Park Rangers' Kevin Gallen have been ruled out of the England Under-21 European Championship qualifier in Moldova on Saturday. Leicester's Emile Heskey could also miss out the trip to Chisinau.