BURNLEY’S on-loan defender Rhys Williams missed out on international action on Saturday as Wales suffered a potentially fatal blow to their World Cup hopes.

The Middlesbrough defender was not picked by John Toshack but looked on as Wales’ hopes of qualification for next year’s South African tournament were hit hard by the 2-0 loss to Finland at the Millennium Stadium.

Jonatan Johansson put Finland ahead two minutes before the break, capitalising on Jari Litmanen’s neat through-ball.

The Finns stepped up the tempo after the re-start and Mikael Forssell missed several chances before former Rovers man Shefki Kuqi scored in injury time.

Wales needed to win to keep in the hunt for second place in Group Four and the chance of the play-off places for the eight best runners-up out of nine.

They now an uphill task to reach that goal as Russia and Finland have games in hand. Vintage Claret Graham Alexander won his 38th Scotland cap on Saturday night - and was replaced on 73 minutes by Tottenham defender Alan Hutton.

But he is expected to win his 39th cap in Wednesday’s crucial Hampden Park clash with Iceland.

Defeat in that game will effectively end Scottish hopes of reaching South Africa.

And that means Burnley boss Owen Coyle will again be keeping his fingers crossed that Alexander avoids injury as the Clarets look to maintain their remarkable push for a play-off spot when they return to Championship action at Derby County on Saturday.

The cap was Alexander’s first since he made a brief appearance as a substitute in November’s friendly loss to Argentina at Hampden Park.

There was better news for young striker Kevin McDonald, who was in action for Scotland Under-21s in their 1-0 UEFA Under-21 Championship qualifying win over Albania U21.

Besart Berisha, who is on loan to Danish side AC Horsens, was in the Albanian side beaten 1-0 by Hungary in Tirana in their FIFA World Cup European Qualifying match. It was his 13th cap and only the second game he had started following an injury lay-off.