Nottingham Forest have withdrawn three players from Brian Kerr's u18 squad to face Switzerland tonight at Frank Cooke Park (5:15 BST).

Forest manager David Platt has withdrawn Barry Roche, Brian Cash and Niall Hudson, forcing Kerr to call up Manchester City's Brian Murphy, Belvedere's Wesley Houlihan and Wolves teenager JJ Melligan.

Barry Roche's withdrawal is understandable, as he is No. 2 goalkeeper at the club and with the form of the ageing David Beasant he could become No.1 fairly soon.

But the withdrawal of Cash and Hudson while clubmate Andy Reid is allowed the join up with the squad is a bit of a mystery.

Reid must be pushing for his senior debut after starting the season like a house on fire for the u19 team. He is scoring for fun and added another two at the weekend when Forest came back from a 3-1 deficit to beat Stoke 6-3.

Brian Cash also played and scored in the game and Niall Hudson was on the bench - so what is the reason for their withdrawal? Both players are nowhere near the Forest first team so the only explanation is that they must have picked up knocks since the weekend.

Revised u18 Squad: Brian Murphy (Manchester City), Wayne Henderson (Aston Villa), Wesley Houlihan (Belvedere), David van Zantan (Celtic), Chris Byrne (Sunderland), Danny Murphy (QPR), Kevin Nolan (Bolton Wanderers), Ken Coleman (Wolves), Paul Tierney (Manchester Untied), John Lester (Everton) Joe Gamble (Reading), Alan Cawley (Leeds United) Sean Thornton (Tranmere Rovers), Andy Reid (Nottingham Forest), Colin Larkin (Wolves), JJ. Melligan (Wolves), Robert Doyle (Blackburn Rovers), Robbie Martin (UCD), Brian Fitzgerald (QPR).