Craig Brown recalled from several years ago Kenny Dalglish telling him how his son, Paul, and Matteo were friends at Liverpool and that the latter was born in Dumfries.

It turned out the then young wing-back had been capped on four occasions by England's Under-21s and, consequently, seemed to be unavailable to any other country.

Yet, last term, Scotland's erstwhile assistant manager, Alex Miller, was appointed to a scouting position with the Anfield club and quickly detected where Matteo's loyalties lay.

'Alex phoned me to say that, before some match involving us, he'd heard Dominic taking a bit of kidding from the other Liverpool players because he was supporting Scotland,' Brown recalled.

'So we faxed the FA who confirmed that, because the

lad hadn't played in a competitive game for England, he was eligible for us. I then phoned Dominic who said he'd be delighted to play for Scotland.

'Dominic's got great athleticism and is good in the air. He's also the up and at 'em type, with plenty of running and aggression.

'Sometimes, when you bring in a player, you feel yourself having to justify him', the manager noted. 'Don Hutchison was a case in point, having been born in England of a Scottish father.

'Mind you, after Don had scored for us against Bosnia, Germany and England, there was no longer a need to justify him. People were prepared to accept him as a valuable player for us.

'Dominic's father, I believe, was of Italian stock and his mother English. But the fact that he himself was born in Scotland means that we're not having to select him through his bloodline.'

Brown planned initially to involve the now 26-year-old in the friendly game with the Republic of Ireland in Dublin at the tail end of last term, only to discover he was injured.

The Scots manager proved no luckier at the second attempt, Matteo failing a medical with Leeds United immediately before he was due to be picked in the squad for Latvia early this month.

But the player's projected £4mil-lion move to Elland Road went through soon enough and his performances since have left little doubt in Brown's mind that he can be a valuable addition to the Scots' squad.

'The fact that Leeds paid what they did for him let's you know David O'Leary's opinion of the lad.

'I saw a tape of Leeds' game with AC Milan in the Champions League and Dominic was outstanding,' he enthused.

'I also watched highlights of Leeds' 6-0 win over Besiktas this week. Dominic looked great again and, of course, got one of the goals.

'Everybody I speak to in England, from Harry Redknapp to Howard Wilkinson, tells me what a good player he is. Gerard Houllier at Liverpool talks highly of him, also.

'The fact that Gerard was prepared to transfer Dominic to Leeds was more to do with the money he was being offered and the good provision he had for the player's position.

'Dominic certainly wasn't the kind who Liverpool wanted out the door.'

Matteo's belated nomination by the Scots can go some way to invigorating their squad, several of whose members have been overlooked by their clubs of late and, consequently, are short of match practice.

Callum Davidson, who plays in the same role as Matteo, Colin Hendry, Christian Dailly and Neil McCann are four of those who have had to reconcile themselves to appearing as substitutes on a weekly basis, if at all.

Craig Burley, also, is just back from a long spell of injury and, therefore, counts as another in need of as much exercise as he can get before Scotland meet San Marino next Saturday and Croatia the following Wednesday.

'The fact that the Old Firm both are playing on Sunday is a major worry for us,' Brown admitted. 'We could have up to eight players involved with them then.

'Some people have suggested to me that we would have been better playing Croatia first,' he added, 'but, the way things are, the San Marino game gives us the opportunity to give several of the lads match practice.

'Burley comes into that category. It's good to have him available again.

He's a winner and capable of being an inspirational figure for us.

People at Derby tell me that his presence helped them avoid the drop last season.'

Brown, planning a full- scale training match for his 26- man squad when they report on Wednesday, went on to say that he would be scrutinising tapes of San Marino before Scotland play them for the third time in nine years at Serrevalle.

He said also that he had made a full study of Croatia, much of it based on their recent draw with Belgium in Brussels, and added: 'The talk that Davor Suker isn't going to be fit for them could turn out to be a real bonus for us.

'He's got a fantastic scoring record for Croatia, something like a goal every other game.