Aaron Hughes has become the first withdrawal from Sammy McIlroy's Northern Ireland squad for next week's World Cup qualifier against Malta. McIlroy only named his squad yesterday but Hughes has been forced to pull out after sustaining a hamstring injury. McIlroy was aware that Hughes was a major doubt, as the Newcastle defender has been out of action for two weeks and his fears were confirmed this morning with the news of his withdrawal.
McIlroy had hoped to develop Hughes' fledgling centre-half partnership with Sunderland's George McCartney but now Preston's Colin Murdock is likely to play alongside McCartney on Saturday week. The Northern Ireland boss has also awarded a late call-up to Wigan's Pat McGibbon to provide defensive cover, even though he himself is recovering from a knee ligament injury.
"I've just heard from Newcastle's physio Paul Ferris that Aaron broke down in a fitness session and so he's had to pull out," explained McIlroy. "It's a shame because McCartney and him had done very well in the last match against Iceland. But I've got big Murdock who can slot in there and hopefully he will come through the weekend okay. I've called up Pat McGibbon and let's hope it ends there," he added.
McIlroy has several other injury doubts with Keith Gillespie and Philip Mulryne both carrying knocks. Blackburn winger Gillespie has a knee injury, while Mulryne has missed Norwich's last two games through injury.
Filed by Amanda Fennelly
