Nigel Clough admits he was concerned at Liam Boyce's early departure in Northern Ireland's friendly loss to Costa Rica on Sunday - but he has confirmed the Burton Albion striker is "fine".
Boyce started his country's 3-0 defeat to the World Cup-bound Costa Ricans but was substituted off after 39 minutes after receiving a couple of early knocks.
That brought an end to the Albion man's campaign, during which he was sidelined for seven months with an ACL injury that had a telling impact on the Brewers' failed bid for Championship survival.
Clough was quick to check on Boyce's status after the Northern Ireland game at the weekend as he begins building Albion's plans for League One in 2018-19.
"I did get a bit worried when I saw Liam Boyce came off after 39 minutes," said the Burton boss.
"So I was trying to track him down in Costa Rica on Sunday!
"It's just when you see '39 minutes'. We had just sat down for dinner, looked at the iPad and saw it was 1-0, and then there was actually a picture of him on the BBC feed.
"So I looked on it and saw 39 minutes and thought, 'oh no'.
"But I managed to track him down and spoke to him, and he was fine."
Burton Albion transfer news
Boyce - who became Burton's club-record signing from Ross County a year ago - is likely to lead the line for the Brewers again next season after scoring three goals in 17 appearances towards the end of the 2017-18 campaign.
Lucas Akins, Marvin Sordell, Will Miller and Marcus Dinanga are the other striking options in the Albion squad at this stage.
