Jack Ross insists Kevin Nisbet has stepped up a level since his Scotland debut and deserves a place in the Euro 2020 squad.
Nisbet faces a nervous wait over the next few hours to discover if he'll be named in the Scotland squad for the country's first major tournament since 1998.
He made his debut for his country as a substitute in a 4-0 win over Faroe Islands back in March and is being tipped for a place in the final squad.
He faces a battle with Dundee United's Lawrence Shankland and Celtic's Leigh Griffiths for a position but the injury to Oli McBurnie and the extra spaces on offer could give him a chance.
And Ross insists it would be huge for him if he got into the squad because he's had such an impressive first campaign in the Premiership with Hibs.
He said: “It would be terrific if he was involved and well deserved in my opinion.
“While Steve’s opinion is the only one that really matters, what Kevin’s done with his performances all season – in particular in the last international camp – has given him the absolute best chance of being involved.
“It would be a real compliment to us as a club and a terrific achievement for Kevin given his career path as well.
“That period between his call-up, his cap and now was a key period for him.
“You go back to that first induction to international football and to produce that level of performance shows he embraced that challenge.
“What he’s done is given himself the best possible chance of being included and if he is it’ll be a brilliant compliment to us as a club and a huge achievement for him personally.
“He backs himself. That’s been evident in his performances and his career path in the way he has had to work his way back through the levels.
“He is driven by wanting to prove some people wrong, which is fine. As you get a bit older in life you probably make your peace with that a wee bit but he’s still young enough to have that feeling behind it that he has been written off by some people.
“He is going about that in a terrific way and in terms of handling this week, it’s no problem at all.
“He thrives on it actually. He enjoys the bigger occasion and bigger prize and hopefully that will be reflected in his performance at the weekend.”
