Houston: Hutton displays Scotland's hunger

The Tottenham full-back has recently recovered from hernia surgery and was a major doubt for the Kaunas clash.

But, while boss Craig Levein has lost full-backs Lee Wallace and Kevin McNaughton to injury, Hutton proved himself in training before Scotland flew to Lithuania.

"He has never missed a training session and in fact is looking really sharp and quick for the operation he had on his hernia not so long ago," Houston said yesterday.

"He has been buzzing and it was him who said he was desperate to be here.

"People in the newspapers were maybe ruling him out but he is very, very keen and in training he looks as if he has never had any operation in the last few weeks."

Houston believes the whole squad has trained with an added intensity before Levein's first competitive game in charge.

The Scots beat the Czech Republic in March but lost 3-0 in Sweden last month.

"There is always an edge to a very important qualifier and I see the edge in training because the standard has been absolutely fantastic," Houston said.