Gordon Strachan delighted by Scotland spirit ahead of England clash

Scotland manager Gordon Strachan has hailed the "inspirational" spirit shown by his players in the build-up to next weekend's key World Cup qualifier against England.

The Tartan Army find themselves sitting fourth in the Group F standings at the midway point on the road to Russia, six points adrift of their opponents who lead the way.

Strachan, whose future was in major doubt prior to the 1-0 win over Slovenia last time out, is delighted with the commitment shown by his group as they volunteered for extra training on Monday morning.

"People are in good form and we must use that, use their enthusiasm and the enthusiasm of the crowd," he told reporters. "At times as a coach you're meant to inspire players, but the players inspired the whole coaching staff this morning.

"There's a group who have not played or trained in a long time and we put on a session that was going to be hard, an extra hard session for them.

"It's players who drive the group on, and the players got together as a group and said 'we're doing this together', which was absolutely phenomenal - inspirational. The boys put a marker down this morning at the first training session."

Scotland have been boosted by the news that full-back Kieran Tierney is fit to feature against England in Saturday evening's clash at Hampden Park.