BROONIE WILL BATTLE THROUGH PAIN BARRIER; BROONIE'S BATTLING ON.

Byline: James Traynor

BATTERED, bruised but far from broken goal hero Scott Brown reported back for national service last night and gave Scotland's World Cup hopes a massive boost.

Fears had been growing over the battling midfield player's fitness after he'd suffered some heavy knocks in the 2-0 win against Macedonia on Saturday but he insists he'll be ready for Holland on Wednesday night.

Brown was hobbling as he arrived at Scotland's HQ late yesterday but the word from manager George Burley is that the Celtic player's ankle injury is not as bad as had been feared. Having lost James McFadden, who is suspended, and the injured Callum Davidson the last thing Burley would have needed was to be told Brown wouldn't recover.

But Brown, who scored his first goal for the national team in the 2-0 win over Macedonia, was one of the first to report back for duty.

He did admit after Saturday's win that the same ankle which needed an operation only weeks ago had been whacked a couple of times and he may have a scan ahead of the Dutch game. But Burley reckons Scotland's medics will have Brown just right for the must-win showdown.

Irate

That will further enrage Macedonia, who believe the Scot's behaviour on Saturday was against the spirit of the game and midfielder Veliche Shumulikoski called on FIFA to hammer Brown.

Shumulikoski insists if Arsenal's Eduardo can receive a two-game ban for deceiving the referee in the Champions League qualifier against Celtic, then Brown should also be hit with a lengthy suspension by the game's governing body.

He was surrounded by irate Macedonians after he smashed a restart drop-ball off Igor Mitreski for a corner rather than play it back to them.

Shumulikoski insists that since FIFA champion fair play they should hit Brown with a retrospective punishment like Eduardo.

The Macedonian said: "FIFAand UEFAspeak about fair play and we saw that when Eduardo was given a two-game ban because of the penalty.

"After what happened at Hampden, Scott Brown should face the same as this is more important because football is supposed to be about fair play.

"Kids watch the game but what Scott Brown did was unbelievable.

"Eduardo received a two-game ban but I think this is more important and Brown should be suspended for five or six games.

"After he did it he walked away smiling. He was just trying to provoke us and I said to the Scotland captain Darren Fletcher, 'What about fair play?'

"Brown should have received a second yellow card for that at the end of the firsthalf. We were all very aggrieved by what he did.

"He is a good player, he scored a goal but he is not a gentlemen on the pitch. Why did he need to smile and try to provoke us?

"If he had received a second yellow card it would have been 11 against 10 and it would have been very difficult for Scotland .

"Scotland won 2-0 and we are okay with that because we had chances to score but we did not take them."

Difficult

Macedonia face Norway on Wednesday as Scotland take on Holland in the final Group Nine qualifiers.

And Shumulikoski believes Macedonia will secure second spot with a win in Norway because he cannot see Scotland winning against the Dutch.

He said: "If Holland play all their best players then I don't think Scotland have a chance. The Dutch play the best football in the world.

"If they play their full-strength team it will be very difficult for Scotland .

"We play in Norway and will go and try to win. If Scotland lose and we win we will finish second in the group as we have a better goal difference than Scotland."