THE starfish has an extraordinary talent for losing bits of itself and growing fully effective replacements. It could be a role model for the Scotland World Cup squad.

Adaptability rather than blinding ability is at the core of the relative success achieved by the players Craig Brown took from Riga to Tallinn on Saturday night for the second leg of a potentially crucial double.

In the Latvian capital, another couple of bits dropped off. Gary McAllister, the Scots' captain, and Stuart McCall, one of his diligent partners in midfield, will be unavailable for the meeting with Estonia on Wednesday.

McAllister received a second yellow card during the 2-0 victory over Latvia on Saturday - he had been cautioned in the series opener against Austria in Vienna last month - and is automatically suspended. McCall was confined to barracks for the second half of the match with a hamstring injury, with insufficient time to recover before the exertions in Tallinn.

Whatever the mishaps - Brown had already lost three strikers and one defender to injury from his original squad - the Scots seem able to cope. Indeed, the victory over Latvia would have been even more emphatic, but for a fine performance from the home goalkeeper, Karavajevs, and one or two miscues in front of goal.

The goals which were scored, by Collins and Jackson on either side of the interval, were outstanding. Collins, the former Celtic midfielder now at AS Monaco, was the most impressive and influential player on the field and will take over the captaincy for the first time on Wednesday.

With Sweden and Austria, regarded as Scotland's most serious rivals in Group Four, meeting in Stockholm on the same night, there is every reason to believe that victory for the Scots here would greatly enhance their prospects of qualifying for France 98.

It is widely acknowledged that Brown's current crop does not contain many plums, but the secret of their continuing success may reside in the fact that his players are, generally speaking of similar quality. It is what gives them their resilience, with replacements tending to fill the designated role just as effectively as the original choice.

McAllister, however, is surely an exception to the generalisation. Certainly one of the two most accomplished players in the squad Collins would be the other - and finding an adequate deputy could be troublesome. Brown will compensate by tinkering with his formation.

"The way the Estonians play, with only one striker, we don't need three at the back," said Brown yesterday. "We could play a 2-5-3 attacking formation. If it's any guide. you can take it we were very pleased with Jackie McNamara when he came off the bench against Latvia.

The young full back, then, will win his second cap at right wing back, with Craig Burley moving forward to midfield and Scot Gemmill being pressed into the McAllister role.

Collins himself agreed that having the one level of quality in the squad helped their consistency, but insisted that there was another reason. "Craig's preparations are top class," said Collins. "It's why a new man coming in seems to know exactly what is required and how we go about things.

"The manager works very hard on the togetherness aspect and, of course, he is always well armed with information on the opposition. He is very accurate, too, and players coming into the group tend to be very well prepared, even in a very short time, for what lies ahead."