The reasons for Cammy Devlin's Australia absence revealed as the Hearts midfielder suffers a bruising week

Player pledges to prove his national coach wrong over the coming weeks

Herats midfielder Cammy Devlin has been left out of the Australia squad. Pic: SNS

It has been a particularly bruising few days for Cammy Devlin. Omitted from the Australia squad on Thursday, the Hearts midfielder played on Saturday as his team squandered a two-goal lead to draw 2-2 with rivals Hibs. Few could blame him for leaving Tynecastle Park slightly punch-drunk.

One of Devlin's greatest qualities is resilience, so it is no surprise hearing him talk of fighting back. Hearts' next two fixtures after international fortnight are Celtic at home and Rangers away. Those offer an opportunity to overcome the Edinburgh derby disappointment. For Devlin, it is a prime chance to prove the Australia coach Graham Arnold wrong.

The player has been included in every Socceroos squad for the past year, although a regular starting place was never secured. Arnold chose to leave Devlin out for forthcoming friendlies against England and New Zealand in London. A phonecall between the pair took place prior to the squad announcement and Devlin, easily Hearts' best midfielder this season, took the news hard.

"Devastated, mate. Devastated. But what can you do?" he said. "Graham Arnold called me last week. He explained his reasons. As a player, you can only control what you can control. I feel I've been playing consistently well and that's all I can do. As the Australian coach, he has picked his team. Am I disappointed? Absolutely.

"Three of the midfielders from the last camp aren't there [Devlin, Aiden O'Neill and Denis Genreau]. He has called up some ones he maybe hasn't looked at, spent time with and got to know as a player and a person. He just said he wants to have a look at a few new boys.

"He said to me that he has been watching and that I'm doing really well. I guess that kind of makes it even more gutting that I'm not there. You need to be resilient as a player. Football is so up-and-down. At 2-0 up on Saturday, I felt so good and so happy. Then two minutes later I felt so sad. That's just how it is. It's how you bounce back as a player."

Devlin fully intends to use this as motivation. "Absolutely. You have to prove him [Arnold] wrong. If you go into a slump and feel sorry for yourself, it will just come back and burn you. As a person, you know the kind of person I am by now. It's about just performing for Hearts and playing regularly.

"I feel I'm playing well so I want to improve. I've got so many areas I can improve on and I'm aware of that. It's about making it impossible for him not to pick me. These next two games for Hearts are the games you want to play in, the big ones. You don't want to be a player who hides in the big games. I love the occasion and the big crowd.

"These are massive games for us. We wanted to go into the break with three points and sitting third in the table. I will get a bit of a break that I didn't really want but I've got. It's a chance for all the boys to rest while the international boys go away and do their nations proud."

Devlin was substituted on Saturday after Elie Youan's equaliser. Two goals inside 90 seconds brought Hibs level following Alan Forrest and Alex Lowry's strikes for Hearts. Asked if the hosts became complacent at 2-0, Devlin replied: "Not so much complacency, it was just a few errors. Fair play to the boy who scored both goals, he took his chances well. We had so many opportunities to win the game. Even at 1-0, there were so many times we could have scored. Then five minutes of madness.

"We felt in good shape. Even at 0-0, we were on top. Al scores a worldy and we settled into the game. I felt we were dominant and creating chances. You should never draw when you are 2-0 up in any game. You should always win."