Liam Kelly confident title-winning Coventry City defenders Dom Hyam and Michael Rose can shine for Scotland

Liam Kelly believes Dom Hyam and Michael Rose of Coventry City will do well for Scotland if Steve Clarke selects them for the new season.

Last season, Hyam and Rose helped Coventry City maintain the greatest defensive record in League One in England and earn promotion to the Championship as third-tier title winners.

Clarke, who is low on quality options at center defense, has been watching the two play for Mark Robins’ team since taking over as coach of the national team last year.

Hyam, a Dundee native who has represented Scotland at both the under-19 and under-21 levels, and Rose, a former Aberdeen, Forfar and Ayr United goalkeeper, are both 24 years old.

Sky Blues captain Kelly, a former Kilmarnock midfielder who played for Scotland in a friendly against Luxembourg in 2012, believes his team can handle the step up.

“They were fantastic all season,” he stated. “They had the league’s best defensive record and won the league.”

“They are playing in the Championship next season and are still very young, so it would be huge for them and I believe they would fully deserve the opportunity.”

Kelly, a former Kilmarnock midfielder who represented Scotland in a friendly against Luxembourg in 2012, believes his team is ready for the challenge.

“They were fantastic all season,” he says. “They had the league’s best defensive record, and they won the league.”

“They’ll be playing in the Championship next season and are still very young, so it would be huge for them, and I believe they’d fully deserve the opportunity.”

Kelly faced Rangers on several occasions while at Rugby Park and was delighted to be back at Ibrox with Coventry on Saturday.

He was unable to prevent the visitors from being defeated 2-0, but he predicted Steven Gerrard’s side to be a serious contender for the Premiership title in 2020/21.

“It’s been about seven years since I last played up here,” he explained. “It felt good to be back up.” It felt unusual, but it’s good to gain some experience in a huge game thus early in our preseason. Rangers kick off next week, and we have seven or eight weeks left.

“The last time I played here was when the news broke about everything that was going on (after the Rangers were placed in administration in 2012), and there were large protests outside the stadium.”

“It has now come full circle.” They’ve been down to the basement tier and back up again, and they’re hoping to end Celtic’s nine league wins, so it’s a significant year for them. It’s going to be an exciting season.”

“Saturday was a strange occasion because we’re playing two different teams in each half, there’s a lot of substitutions going on, it’s behind closed doors so it’s hard to tell,” Kelly explained.

“But their pre-season results have been good, with wins over Nice and Lyon – two fantastic results – so they’ll be ready to rock and roll next week, and I’m sure they want to win the league this season.”