Goram's half-chance

Scottish football

Scottish football

DAVID MCKINNEY

Craig Brown has opened the door for a return to Scotland duty for Andy Goram, the Rangers goalkeeper whose international future was compromised when he pulled out of the European Championship qualifier against Greece in August because he was not mentally attuned for the game.

The Scotland manager will give Goram, his hip strain permitting, 45 minutes of action in the midweek friendly in Sweden with Jim Leighton, the Hibernian goalkeeper, being used for the other half of the match. Brown explained his decision, saying: "I don't see this as a cop-out because we have two very good goalkeepers and Jim Leighton doesn't deserve to be dropped."

Goram was again a key man for Rangers on Saturday as they travelled to Aberdeen without Paul Gascoigne and Ally McCoist through injury, among others, and won 1-0. Rangers' goalscorer was Craig Moore, the Australian who had come on as second-half substitute.

Hanging on to Rangers' coat tails has become a habit for Celtic and they could thank their Dutch striker, Pierre Van Hooijdonk, and John Collins for the goals that gave them a 2-1 home win over Partick Thistle and kept them two points behind their great rivals.

The match was watched by representatives of Paris St-Germain, who face Celtic in the European Cup-Winners' Cup. Their director of football, Jean Francois Domergue said: "I would not like to come here looking for a result in the return leg because the atmosphere will inspire Celtic."

Hibernian are fourth following their 2-1 win over Falkirk, a result that pushes the Bairns to the bottom of the league.