Scotland head coach Steve Clarke is confident in his goalkeeping options after making his choice ahead of Saturday’s crucial World Cup qualifier in Greece.

Clarke was giving nothing away in his pre-match media conference in Piraeus but Craig Gordon is the likeliest replacement for the injured Angus Gunn based on his experience.

The Hearts goalkeeper has not played this season and turns 43 next month, but he is fully fit after recovering from the injury that forced him out towards the end of last season and his 81 caps put him far ahead of Liam Kelly, who has played once for Rangers this season, and Scott Bain, who is back in regular action for Falkirk after years as a Celtic understudy.

“Craig’s good,” said Clarke, who took his squad to Turkey to prepare for a game Scotland cannot afford to lose.

“Liam’s the same. Not playing at Rangers, but working ever so hard, training great.

“Scott Bain’s come into the squad and shown that he’s benefited from coming out of Celtic as the third goalkeeper and playing at Falkirk week in, week out.

“It’s been good. [Goalkeeping coach] Chris Woods is happy with the three of them.

“It’s a slightly different mindset that goalkeepers have got because only one of them can play.

“You’ve got 10 outfield players and one goalie. So they know that when they’re the number two at the club or the number three, whatever, even if they’re the number four at the club, they know that they have to work well every day in training. They have to prepare as well as they can prepare.

“As long as they’re training flat out and concentrating fully on what they’re doing, they should be ready to play.”

When asked what he would base his decision on, Clarke said: “Just how I feel. What I feel is the best for the team on the night.

“I came in with an open mind. I think as a coach, you’ve always got to have an open mind. You’ve got to watch the lads, how they’re training, how they work and then obviously then I’ve got to make the decision.”

Scotland secured at least a playoff when they beat Greece and Belarus at Hampden last month, but they will need to improve on both performances to stand a chance of sealing automatic qualification.

With Group C leaders Denmark almost certain to beat Belarus at home, Scotland will need a point at the Georgios Karaiskakis Stadium in order to set up a winner-takes-all clash with the Danes at Hampden next Tuesday.

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Clarke said: “The last time was a Thursday-Sunday camp, so you don’t get a hell of a lot of time on the training pitch.

“So this time we’ve had more time on the pitch, a chance to discuss a few things that we feel we can do better, and hopefully you see the fruits of that in the next two games.”

With goal difference heavily stacked in Denmark’s favour, a draw in Greece would effectively be as good as a win for Scotland, but Clarke insists that will not affect his tactics.

“My approach is always the same every game: I prepare my teams to win,” he said. “If you prepare to win and you play as well as you can, most of the times you don’t lose.”