Former Dundee United, Blackburn Rovers and Scotland striker Kevin Gallacher isn’t afraid to speak his mind, regardless of whether it flies in the face of popular opinion.

That was borne out yesterday as he made the quarter final draw for the Irn-Bru Cup, as he became perhaps the only man in Scotland to back Chris Martin to lead the line in Slovakia this evening.

The fans and media have been clamouring for Celtic’s Leigh Griffiths to replace the Fulham man in the starting line-up, but Gallacher thinks that Martin’s talents may be perfectly suited to this game.

“You can never know but I’d expect Gordon to start with the same people and that will mean Chris getting another shot at it,” Gallacher said.

“Personally, I would stick with him. It suited him more in the second half at Hampden when he had players running behind him.

“That didn’t happen in the first half and people target the striker for criticism because he’s the one paid to score goals. However, when you’re asked to do a specific job for the team, it’s a little different.

“I also thought Chris did well the other night. I know he came in for a lot of criticism but people don’t realise what a hard job it is when you’re up there on your own.

“You’ve got to lay things off for team-mates while trying to get on the scoresheet yourself and it doesn’t always fall into place that way.

“However, the fact that he has other strikers to choose from is a good headache for Gordon to have and, away from home, you’re going to need someone to hold the ball up.

“Leigh Griffiths, for me, is more of a runner, someone who looks to get behind defences and maybe he should have started against Lithuania ahead of Chris.”

Slovakia’s poor start to their own campaign may have shaken their confidence, but Gallacher says that Scotland’s own form is hardly likely to have the hosts shaking in their boots tonight.

He is hoping though that a positive result can set Scotland up for the clash with England next month, particularly as being an exile south of the border, he will be in for a ribbing if that game doesn’t go his country’s way.

“Slovakia are already saying that they don’t fear Scotland and it’s not a good thing when other teams are coming out with that,” he said.

“They were flying high because they’d done well at the Euros and, although they don’t have a point yet, we’ll be the underdogs over there.

“We need to raise our game but a win over there would be a great statement. England are favourites to win it but I’ve been watching them and they’re no great shakes at the minute.

“We’ll be up against them next month but right now we’ve got to take it one game at a time. We’ve tripped over one hurdle but, hopefully, we can clear the next couple because that could send us on our way.

“The little molehill that we have got to get over is starting to become a mountain again. But the early games are nervous. You get those out the way and then you can get results.

"We will have the next month to worry about it before we play England, so you don’t want to have a draw to Lithuania and a defeat to Slovakia in your mind. I don’t want it in the back of my head because of all the stick I’m going to get.

"I would rather be going the other way knowing that we can go to England with our heads held high with an opportunity that England might actually be fearful of Scotland going down there and beating them.”