Eamonn Brophy insists he’s still got another level to hit as he chases a coveted Scotland recall.
The in-form St Mirren striker revealed his solitary cap for his country, earned against Cyprus in 2019, is the proudest moment of his career so far.
And having bagged a brace against Motherwell on Wednesday night, taking his Premiership tally for the season to five in 11 matches, he is hopeful his former Killie boss Steve Clarke might just give him a call for Scotland’s upcoming World Cup qualifiers.
That would give the 25-year-old a chance to pull on the dark blue jersey of his country once again, a dream he’s determined to fulfil once again after months of battling a foot injury.
Brophy told Express Sport: “I feel good. Last season was a nightmare and I didn’t start this season as well as I would’ve liked.
“But the last couple of months I feel I’ve done well. I’m getting sharper and it’s the fittest I’ve felt in a long time.
“I still feel I’ve another couple of levels to get to, but I’m slowly getting there.
“I’d hope scoring will help my chances (of a recall). I’ve been involved in the past and it was the highlight of my career by far.
“But I’ve just started playing well this season. I’d a nightmare season last season when I missed a lot of games, so I’m just concentrating on doing well here now.
“That’s five goals in the league this season so hopefully if I keep scoring I’ll be knocking on the door.
“There are fixtures in the next few weeks and if I was involved in those it would be amazing.”
While Brophy’s first strike against the Steelmen on Wednesday night was clinical, he was fortunate to get the chance to retake his second after missing his first penalty effort.
He praised his teammates’ character for not throwing in the towel when they found themselves 2-0 down, despite dominating the match except for a dismal five minute spell at the start of the second half.
When asked if he saw goalkeeper Liam Kelly leave his line early for his first penalty attempt, Brophy admitted: “I’d be lying if I said I knew.
“My head was down and I was looking at the ball, then I saw him saving it.
“Then the next thing was the referee signalled a retake which I was delighted with, to be honest.
“I was just glad to get the second opportunity. Jamie (McGrath) was missing and I’ve been trying to get on the penalties when he’s not playing.
“When I missed the first time I thought ‘Oh no I’m going to get stick here’, but fortunately I got a second chance and I was delighted to see it hit the back of the net.
“Jamie’s been the penalty taker so we’ll see whose name is on the sheet next time. If it’s me I won’t be saying no.
“I could’ve had four or five tonight. Kelly had a good save right at the end and I’d a header that came off the centre-back and went over the bar.
“I just felt it was going to be one of those nights. I felt we dominated the first-half and they created very little.
“Then we had a mad five minutes at the start of the second-half and we found ourselves 2-0 down which I couldn’t believe.
“We showed real character to get back in the game and probably should have won it. Weirdly considering we were 2-0 down, it felt like two points dropped.
“I thought we showed character to not get beaten. We could’ve chucked it, but we knew we were playing well and we knew we’d get opportunities and we were unlucky not to win.”
