KRIS BOYD will almost certainly pull out of the Scotland squad to play the Czech Republic this week after declaring a tight hamstring in the wake of Rangers' 3-2 Scottish Cup win over Queen of the South.

However, truth be told, it is not an injury which is giving the striker most pain.

The worries that are keeping Boyd awake at night revolve around the impending fork in the road: stay at Ibrox and risk decaying or move on and leave the club you frustratingly believe you can do a job for.

At just 24 the striker has time on his side, but in the three years he has been at Ibrox the player has become more sullen as his persecution complex has grown.

Paul Le Guen was very publicly the focus of Boyd's ire in the wake of the Frenchman's acrimonious exit from the club, yet under Walter Smith the same problem has remained.

The criticism directed towards the poacher is that he is too one-dimensional and offers little in terms of overall linking play. Certainly, he is unsuited to a system that plays with just one striker and that could be the most significant problem for him.

With Kenny Miller all but certain to be on his way back to Glasgow for a second stint at Ibrox, it would appear that Smith has vivid memories of the striker's exploits for him in a Scotland jersey when he played the lone striking role with such authority. .

But with Jean-Claude Darcheville unreliable and prone to injury - his first 90 minutes of the season for Rangers was in the Uefa Cup Final - and Daniel Cousin set for pastures new, Boyd could yet be persuaded to hang around.

However, for the first time the taciturn striker has admitted that his time at his boyhood heroes may well be nearing an end.

The player has, wisely, held off from openly criticising Smith for his reticence in starting him but his patience is clearly wearing thin at the current situation.

Former Scotland and Gers manager Alex McLeish has never made any secret that he is a fully paid-up member of Boyd's fan club and there would doubtless be offers from south of the border were Boyd to decide his future lay elsewhere.

"I don't think I have to say that the situation is frustrating because it obviously is," he said. "But this is now the time when I probably need to sit down and have a long, hard think about things.

"Whatever happens there are no easy decisions to make. There isn't a player at any club who doesn't want to play games and I am no different.

"Of course I would have wanted to have started more games. I feel as though my record is good and I am pleased with my return because my game is all about goals.

"But it is always going to come down to the manager to decide what he thinks is his strongest starting 11.

"As a player you can complain about it but you can't do anything about it except get your head down and get on with it and I think I have done that.

"Scoring the goals in the cup finals against Dundee United and then Queen of the South have been good.

"Of course I wish I could have done it more often this season, but that's not up to me."