GORDON STRACHAN counted them in, and knew that no-one could count Scotland out.

The season may be over, but the lack of late call-offs to the squad assembled just outside Brentford to prepare for tomorrow's friendly against Nigeria told him everything he wanted to know about the commitment of his players.

Only genuine injury and operations have deprived him of Darren Fletcher, Robert Snodgrass, Graham Dorrans and Gary Caldwell from the original squad.

As ever, Strachan is more concerned with those who are here as he bids to continue the momentum being built up before the start of the Euro 2016 qualifiers.

This is the final game Scotland will play before they open their campaign against Germany in September, and it is reassuring to the manager to see some familiar faces back around the place.

Strachan understands some eyebrows were raised when Shaun Maloney and Caldwell were brought back into the fold following a season spent out injured.

But, he has no qualms about defending his right to reintroduce 30-somethings to his burgeoning group.

"Shaun deserves to be in the squad," is his stout defence of the man he managed at Celtic. "And, if you say to me, 'Gary is one of your boys,' I'll say, 'Yes, he is.'

"I can trust him. He knows what my training session is going to be. He knows how to deal with it.

"He does things on a football field that sets standards, in training and in games. It's just a pity he picked up an injury when he made his comeback from Wigan that has ruled him out of this game.

"As for Shaun, he was magnificent last year.

"Ask any player, even ask Arsene Wenger, what they think of him, and they will tell you what a terrific player he is.

"Shaun can also play in one of those three very important positions behind the striker, and is the only one really in our squad who can.

"Snodgrass can do it, but he is not available this time."

Maloney has always been a Strachan-type player, and man, straightforward, without any side to him, and as honest as the day is long in all he does.

The energy and imagination he brings to the team will help Scotland step up a notch from being well-organised and hard to beat.

But, there will still need to be a platform from which he can show his skills, and skipper Scott Brown is one of the main pillars who will provide that.

The Celtic captain may appreciate the distraction of this game against Efe Ambrose and his Flying Eagle team-mates as he comes to terms with having seen Neil Lennon leave Parkhead amidst a maelstrom of conjecture about who will be his replacement.

Strachan has no fears of the man he took to the Hoops seven years ago as a raw marauder but who has now found long-waited maturity.

"I've got to say, Brownie has been terrific in international football," said the manager.

"Hopefully, with the form he has shown and with his injury problems behind him, Euro 2016 could be his stage.

"But, he will need players round about him to support him, that's for sure.

"You can't just do these things on your own these days.

"It's different if you are a Gareth Bale or a Cristiano Ronaldo. But we don't have anyone like that in our squad.

"Our good players seem to be guys like Brownie, who appreciate that, to be really effective, they have to have good players around them doing a good job as well."

Strachan continued: "We're a team who can't rely on one player getting us out of trouble. A lot of teams do have that man, like Sweden with Ibrahimovic. Even if you go down to Macedonia, they have Pandev.

"So many other teams seem to have that player. But we have to work at everything we do."

That starts right at the back with the goalkeepers, and David Marshall's form for Cardiff this season - allied to Allan McGregor at Hull - has made the joke about Scottish keepers lose its punchline.

Marshall - despite suffering relegation with Cardiff - has edged ahead of McGregor in the battle to be No.1 and Strachan said: "It's good to know he has had such a good Premier League season.

"Most of our squad don't play in that division. The likes of Gordon Greer is playing for Brighton in the Championship at 34.

"People say Gordon is slow. Yes, but he reads the game and can pass.

"He doesn't need to be dashing back to make last-gasp, winding, slashing tackles because he is already in the position to deal with the danger. He can read it."

A solid back line is essential to the way Strachan is trying to progress Scotland, and at the core of why we have moved up to No.22 in the Fifa rankings.

"Apart from the Norway game, you would not say we were lucky to get the clean sheets we have had in recent games," said Strachan.

"In that game in Molde, it was down to the way we defended in midfield, and it was David and the centre-halfs who helped us out."