The 32-year-old was forced to pull out of Wednesday's friendly with Northern Ireland at Hampden Park with a knee problem picked up in Saturday's 2-0 win over Crystal Palace.

Davidson was due to travel north to team up with the rest of the squad on Sunday but medics at Deepdale declared him unfit.

North End boss Alan Irvine spoke with George Burley late on
Saturday to alert him to the problem.

"Hopefully it is nothing too serious," said Irvine after Davidson hobbled off after 73 minutes of the win which put Preston joint top of the Championship table.

Click the play button above to hear from Alan Irvine, Barry Nicholson and a fuming Neil Warnock following Saturday's game.

"But it is such a shame for the lad having just been called up after six years. It was fantastic for him to be picked, so this is a big blow."

Davidson last played for his country in 2002 and was a surprise selection when Burley announced his squad last week.

The Scots face Northern Ireland in a warm-up for their opening World Cup qualifiers in Macedonia and Iceland next month.

Despite his long absence from the international scene, Davidson was
hoping Wednesday's match would give him the chance to stake a claim for the two games in Skopje and Reykjavik on September 6 and 10.

"He just twisted his knee," said Irvine. "He tried to carry on but he was not moving very well.

"If he hadn't said it was time to come off then I would probably have said it was time anyway.

"After the game he was feeling a bit sore."

Davidson was one of five players to withdraw from the Scotland squad after the weekend. Celtic duo Paul Hartley and Gary Caldwell also pulled out, along with Cardiff pair Gavin Rae and Kevin McNaught.

Manager Burley immediately called up former PNE skipper Graham Alexander from Burnley along with Rangers' defender David Weir and Hearts midfielder Michael Stewart.

Davidson's injury took some of the gloss off Preston's third-consecutive win of the new season, a hard-fought three points against highly-fancied Palace.

Barry Nicholson's first strike for the club broke the deadlock just before the hour mark and Richard Chaplow sewed things up in stoppage time.

For full match reaction, pick up a copy of Monday's Lancashire Evening Post.

>> Match report: PNE 2 Crystal Palace 0
>> Nicholson claiming his first North End goal