Villa's rookie striker Darius Vassell has had to pull out of the England under-21 squad.

Vassell was named in the party last week, along with his Villa team-mate, Lee Hendrie, for the clash with Denmark at Bradford on Friday. But the teenage forward is still struggling with the hamstring strain that has forced him to miss the last two Villa games against Leicester City and Liverpool.

It is still unclear just how long Vassell will be out of action for, but there was never any chance that he would have recovered in time to take advantage of his second call-up of the season to the under-21 squad.

Vassell, who is now regarded as being Villa's first choice back-up striker, has made great strides in the last few months at Villa Park. Last season he was in the England youth side. But the two goals that he scored as a substitute against Stromsgodset in the UEFA Cup tie 12 months ago proved to be the catalyst to getting his first-team career into gear at Villa Park.

Before that game he was down the pecking order behind Darren Byfield. But the emergence of Vassell has led to Byfield having to ply his trade in the lower divisions. He is currently on-loan at Cambridge United after a loan spell with Northampton Town.

Meanwhile, Colin Calderwood is expected to be included in the Scotland starting line-up for their crucial Euro 2000 qualifier against Bosnia Herzegovnia tonight. A win in that game for Craig Brown's side would see Scotland secure a play-off spot.