Scotland hero praises Ryan Porteous as ex-Hibs star makes home Scotland debut on 24th birthday

Ryan Porteous received praise from Scottish football legend Ally McCoist after making his first start for the national team at Hampden Park.

The former Hibs centre-back, now with Watford in the English Championship, made his second appearance for his country on his 24th birthday as Steve Clarke’s men defeated Cyprus 3-0 to win their opening match in qualification for the 2024 European Championships.

Porteous started on the right side of the back three and helped keep a clean sheet for debutant goalkeeper Angus Gunn, who changed recently changed allegiances from England to the country of his father’s birth.

John McGinn opened the scoring for the home side and though they had to be patient for the goals which eventually wrapped up the contest, they finally got them with Scott McTominay stepping off the bench to score a double late on.

Ryan Porteous made his Hampden Park debut in a Scotland shirt on his 24th birthday. Picture: SNS

After the match, McCoist, who was doing punditry work for Viaplay, praised the performance of the ex-Easter Road favourite.

He said: “It was [an assured performance], he was very solid. He had one dodgy moment where he picked up a yellow card, but five minutes later he did the right thing where he could have fouled and possibly picked up a second yellow but he stood his ground.

“He can absolutely be delighted with his performance. Defensively he’ll have a lot more difficult games, of that’s there’s no doubt.

“What I was impressed with: he doesn’t half fire it into the inside channel. He was testing Ryan Christie, he was testing Stuart Armstrong. He put good passes in there. I thought his use of the ball was very good.”

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