Rebecca McAllister completes "dream" as she becomes the first Hearts player to be capped for Scotland

Rebecca McAllister is ‘proud and honoured’ as she becomes the first Hearts player to be capped for Scotland.
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The 19-year-old joined the Jam Tarts permanently in the summer after a successful loan spell last season. This campaign, she has been on fine form for the club, including scoring the winner against Motherwell at the end of last month. After receiving her first call-up to the National team in September, she made her debut as a sub in a 2-1 win against Venezuela on Monday, stating it was a “dream come true”.

“For every footballer it is a dream come true to play for your country,” she told Edinburgh Evening News. “It’s something that I am very proud to do, and it is such an honour. I hoped that one day it would happen, and I believed there was the opportunity as I have seen many players do it before. I didn’t think it would come this soon, but it shows that the pathway is there from the youth teams.

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“With Scotland you are with the squad for the whole week and all your focus is on football. You have nothing to really think about outside, you don’t have your personal life at home, so it is quite a change in that way. Coming through the youth system you have the small moments of that this is just on a larger scale.”

McAllister was enticed to Hearts by the "exciting" project Olid is building. (Photo by Mark Scates / SNS Group)McAllister was enticed to Hearts by the "exciting" project Olid is building. (Photo by Mark Scates / SNS Group)
McAllister was enticed to Hearts by the "exciting" project Olid is building. (Photo by Mark Scates / SNS Group)

The midfielder has collected many experiences in her career so far. Graduating from Celtic’s academy, she has played Champions League football as well as international experience at Under-15, 16, 17 and 19 level. McAllister now hopes she can use what she learnt to push the club forward and help complete the “exciting” project manager Eva Olid is building at the club.

“It was very exciting and meant a lot to be to come through a club as big as Celtic,” she explained. “It prepares you to turn up every week with that pressure of playing for the club. You are there to win trophies even though you are still a young player and learning. It taught me a lot about being ruthless and to ensure you are winning every week.

“After spending half of the last season on loan, I got an insight on how far the club wanted to push the women’s game and that is something that really excited me. They have invested a lot this season and we are looking to raise our level to be able to compete with the likes of Celtic and Rangers. We have a mixture of young and experienced players, finding that balance. The coaches are really pushing us to go as high as we can in the league and that excited me to be part of the project. “

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Hearts will travel to the Excelsior Stadium to face Celtic on Sunday where they will be looking to make it six wins in seven in the league. The Glasgow giants currently sit third in the table six points behind fourth placed Hearts; kick-off is at 14:00.