SOCCER SHORTS:SCOTLAND MANAGER George Burley will not let possible permutations distract him from the task of beating Norway tonight in their crunch World Cup qualifier.

The Scots are in second place in Group Nine with seven points from five games and they know that victory at the Ullevaal Stadium in Oslo would eliminate the Norwegians while taking them a step closer to a play-off place.

Defeat for the visitors would mean that back-to-back wins would probably be required in the forthcoming double-header at Hampden against Macedonia and Holland if the Scots were to have a chance of clinching a play-off spot.

However, Burley insisted: “We are only thinking about winning.”

Burley would not speculate which goalkeeper, Neil Alexander or David Marshall, would replace the injured Craig Gordon. But he hinted Celtic midfielder Scott Brown could make his first competitive start of this campaign following injury.

Young to start against Netherlands

ASHLEY YOUNG will start England’s friendly with the Netherlands in Amsterdam tonight. With Steven Gerrard not making the flight after suffering a slight groin injury in training yesterday, coach Fabio Capello has decided Young should fill the left-sided midfield berth.

Robbed of goalkeeper David James because of a knee injury, Capello lost Ben Foster as well yesterday after he pulled out with a similar problem. Capello will select West Ham’s Robert Green instead.

Given his lack of goalkeeping options, it would have been no surprise if Capello had selected Arsenal’s Manuel Almunia, which he can do on residency grounds.

Instead, the prospect brought a response which left little room for ambiguity. “Almunia, for me, is Spanish,” he said.

Bellamy puts the record straight

MANCHESTER CITY have been severely criticised by the Welsh FA after failing to provide information about Craig Bellamy’s failure to attend training before the country’s friendly against Montenegro.

City admitted that they had forgotten to tell Wales that Bellamy was carrying a knee injury – sustained in his club’s home friendly with Celtic last weekend – and would thus not be available for tomorrow’s match in the Gradski stadium.

The Wales manager, John Toshack, flew to Podgorica with his squad yesterday, without any idea what was wrong with Bellamy and with no opportunity to call up a replacement.

Bellamy, however, phoned the team hotel, clearly upset, and made it clear his record of availability for his country is beyond reproach.

Moyes rejects Lescott's written transfer request

DAVID MOYES is convinced he has thwarted Manchester City’s attempts to lure Joleon Lescott to Eastlands having rejected a written transfer request from the Everton and England defender.

Lescott’s attempt to force a move to City, and double his wages to €93,000 a week, led to him putting a verbal transfer request into writing yesterday.

The 27-year-old received the same response from the Everton manager, namely that he is not for sale at any price.

Lescott has now been left in an awkward predicament with three weeks remaining before the close of this transfer window.

Lescott has been the subject of two rejected bids from City this summer, for €17.5m and 18m, and a third offer of around €21m is now expected. That may again prove unsuccessful and City are now considering alternative targets, including West Ham’s Mathew Upson.

Moyes is adamant he will not strengthen a Premier League rival at the expense of his team that finished fifth for the past two years and reached the FA Cup final last term. “Joleon Lescott put in a written transfer request this morning which I immediately rejected it,” said Moyes yesterday.

“We will continue to work with him as we appreciate his many qualities as a player. I have said all along that I have no intention of selling my best players.”