Having endured a challenging season, Kevin Nisbet has found himself a bit-part player in the Scotland squad, with most of the 26-year-old's 10 caps coming from Steve Clark's bench.
Now, having sealed his £2million Hibs exit, the striker is hoping his move to Millwall can help make him the star forward in the national team as Euro 2024 rolls closer, writes the Daily Record.
His latest appearance saw him replace Lyndon Dykes late on in the late showing at Hampden as Scotland strolled to a 2-0 victory over Georgia amid the chaos from the downpour.
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It's not just the QPR ace facing Nisbet however next term, as he has Southampton's Che Adams to get past if he wants to make the No.9 role his own, and he believes he is on the right track.
At the Euro 2020 finals two years ago, he could sense something special was brewing with Clarke’s squad. A knee injury curtailed his progress – for club and country – but Nisbet now looks back to his best.
He feels Scotland are ready to qualify for another major tournament. And by heading to London to play in the English Championship against the likes of Adams and Dykes, he’s convinced it can take his game to another level.
Off the back of an international camp that saw Clarke’s team stay at the top of Group A in their qualifying campaign with a 100 per cent record, Nisbet said: “I was probably borderline for getting into the squad for the last Euros.
“But even then I could see it was on the rise. And since then it has just been improving all the time. We need to keep performing as a nation now. I think we’ve been doing that since then. To get 12 points already in this campaign is a fantastic return, especially in a very hard group.
“We’ve spoken in the changing room about taking it game by game. We want to keep churning out three points after three points. If we keep doing that, we’ll qualify for Germany which would be great for the whole country.
“My own ambition is to start every game for Scotland. So I want to go to Millwall this summer and hit the ground running. I’m ready for the step up.
“In fact, I’ve been ready since I came back from my injury. So it’s now about getting as many goals as I can for my new club then pushing for a start with Scotland. I believe I’m a better player now than at Euro 2020. And my injury was actually a blessing in disguise for me.
“It gave me time to work on stuff that I needed to improve and I’ve come out the other side a better player. It’s great to be back involved with Scotland again. Now it’s about joining a new team and getting off to a good start in London.”
Clarke got the monkey off a nation’s back by reaching Euro 2020 after 23 years of pain in Euro and World Cup qualifying campaigns. But the tournament – held in the UK – was badly hit by the Covid pandemic.
Only a certain number of fans were allowed into games and the Scots suffered badly. An impressive draw with England at Wembley was sandwiched between defeats to the Czech Republic and Croatia at Hampden. But the event just didn’t have a tournament feel about it.
Players didn’t get to live the full experience and the Tartan Army didn’t get beyond Trafalgar Square. Making it to Germany next summer would be different.
And Nisbet is fully aware of what it would mean to Clarke’s squad. He said: “When we qualified for the last tournament it was in the UK. But when you were younger, you watched it on TV and saw the atmosphere that’s created when the fans go abroad.
“That’s why we need to make sure we get there. We’re on the right road. It would definitely be more special this time (compared to 2020). You see it on TV, the build-up to it when it’s in another country.
“Even as a player, flying out there and going into camp – that all adds to the experience. We feel that we can achieve something new.
“All of these boys now are buzzing to come away on international duty. Kenny McLean and Lyndon Dykes finished their season then went to train in Dubai because they didn’t want to let the team down here.
“That’s the mentality the manager has drilled into us. The team spirit is amazing and it’s something you don’t really see in international football. The boys who didn’t play against Norway, like myself, felt a part of it as much as the stars like Andy Robertson and Kieran Tierney. That’s what the gaffer has instilled in us. Our squad is our strength.
“You saw it in Oslo, with subs coming on and scoring. The team spirit is amazing.”
Nisbet is flying out to the Lions’ Spanish training camp early and will arrive at his new club for the new campaign with a spring in his step after Scotland duty. This time next year he could be at another major finals. But the striker is refusing to think too far ahead.
He said: “It’s been the perfect start for us and we’re going strong. But there is still the second half of the group to go.
“We have four big games left and it’s about getting the job done. If you look at our squad, it’s a mix of Premier League, Championship and boys playing abroad.
“We have a very strong team and a lot of people have underestimated us over the last couple of years. But we will keep our feet firmly on the ground.”
