Sheffield Wednesday duo Barry Bannan and Steven Fletcher were left on the bench tonight as Scotland fell to defeat at the hands of England.
Scotland manager Gordon Strachan made 8 changes to his starting line up but it didn't have the desired effect as England ran out 3-0 winners. Celtic striker Leigh Griffiths was chosen ahead of Fletcher as the lone forward and although he put in a lively performance and was effective on putting pressure on the England defence he spurned a great chance at 1-0, hitting a tame shot when he should have played in a team mate.
Scotland went with Darren Fletcher, Scott Brown and James Morrison in midfield, leaving Bannan on the bench. Although the visitors had a decent amount of chances caused by pressing England they were far from comfortable in possession at times and Brown, returning from international retirement, passed the ball to an England shirt almost as many times as he did to a team mate in the 2nd half.
The result leaves Scotland 5th in the group desperately needing a win from their next qualifying game against Slovenia in March ahead of the return fixture against England in June.
Whilst Fletcher and Bannan will have been disappointed not to play any part the positive from Wednesday's perspective is that they will return free of injury to play in the Owls next game against in-form Fulham next weekend.