Jim Magilton and Steve Morrow are vying for the honour of captaining Northern Ireland in the World Cup qualifier against Germany tommorrow night.
With Manchester City goalkeeper Tommy Wright injured, West Ham striker Iain Dowie suspended and Nigel Worthington concentrating on his first managerial post at Blackpool, manager Bryan Hamilton admitted he will look to Magilton or Morrow to fill the void for a group nine qualifier that must be won if the already unlikely backdoor entry to France 98 isn't going to be slammed shut completely.
Queens Park Rangers skipper Morrow led the team briefly before Hamilton turned to Dowie and Wright, while Magilton - currently leading out Southampton with Matt Le Tissier injured - has been previously forced to worry more about his place in the team.
But whichever player gets the nod at Windsor Park, the Irish boss revealed that he would be examining all the possible captaincy options in the coming months.
"It will be either Jim or Steve on Wednesday, but I've not made up my mind yet because an obvious captain hasn't jumped out at me," admitted Hamilton. "That's not a criticism, because a major plus for us is the fact is that we have so many natural leaders in our team anyway.
"We haven't had an established captain as such, because Tommy Wright has done it, Iain Dowie has done it, Nigel Worthington had a spell and so has Steve Morrow. So basically I'd like to give people the experience of handling the captaincy to see if they are comfortable with it."
Hamilton added: "Steve and Jim are obvious candidates because they are currently captaining QPR and Southampton, while Steve Lomas is skipper at West Ham. But we've got the likes of Neil Lennon and Gerry Taggart as well, both of whom are leaders on the pitch.
"I would like to be in a position to make someone a captain for the European Championship qualifying campaign, but having said that I like the fact that we seem to have a lot of leaders in the team."
As well as losing Dowie and Lomas through suspension, the Irish have also been hit by a goalkeeping crisis that has seen them turn to Grimsby veteran Aiden Davison.
With Wright ruled out by a hamstring injury, the way seemed clear for Alan Fettis, only for the highly-rated Nottingham Forest goalkeeper to pull out with a back injury yesterday.
That left 19-year-old Wigan understudy Roy Carroll as Hamilton's only option, prompting him to call in Davison and put Coleraine goalkeeper Wes Lamont on standby.
Davison, the 29-year-old former Notts County, Bury, Millwall and Bolton goalkeeper, won his second cap during the tour of Thailand earlier this summer, a year after making his first appearance in a 2-1 home defeat by Sweden.
Davison is likely to get the nod ahead of Carroll because of his greater experience, although Hamilton added: "It's unfortunate what has happened but we have just got to get on with it and I have every confidence in both Roy and Aiden.
"I have got the team finalised in my mind, but I'm not telling anybody yet - not even the players, although they have a good idea."
