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Clarke urges Scots to take centre stage

- BY KEITH JACKSON

STEVE CLARKE wants his Scotland stars to blow the Old Firm off the back pages - by putting on a headline performance on centre stage at Hampden tonight.

The buildup to a crucial World Cup qualification doubleheader has been overshadowed by Celtic's internal civil war and the hunt for a new Rangers boss following the binning of Russell Martin.

That's meant Clarke and his men have been largely flying under the radar as they prepare to face Greece tonight and Belarus on Sunday in back-to-back Group C games that could fire the national side to within touching distance of a first World Cup Finals in almost 30 years. And even the boss admits these potentially history-making matches appear to have crept up on a footballmad country that's been busy rubber-necking elsewhere.