Scotland squad to be named as ex Hearts man in line for long awaited return and Hibs ace tipped for action
Brentford’s Aaron Hickey got more minutes under his belt after a long injury lay off while Kieron Bowie has stood out in the Premiership this season.
It was a quieter weekend than usual across the Scottish Premiership with Hibs and Aberdeen both opting to postpone their domestic fixtures in order to focus on their respective European ties against Legia Warsaw and FCSB.
Somewhere that certainly wasn’t quiet was Tynecastle where supporters saw the Jambos go 3-0 down at home to Motherwell only to come back and earn a point with a 3-3 draw. Elsewhere, Celtic beat Livingston 3-0 while Kilmarnock and Dundee played out a 0-0 draw at Rugby Park and Rangers could only leave Paisley with a point after a 1-1 draw on Sunday.
There is another round of domestic fixtures set to take place next weekend then we will have the first international break of the 2025/26 season. Steve Clarke will name his Scotland squad for their World Cup qualifying matches against Denmark and Belarus on Monday and could have some welcome options to call upon.
Hickey continues injury comeback as Brentford beat Aston Villa
Former Hearts full-back Aaron Hickey could be back in the Scotland squad for the first time in almost two years with the last of his 14 caps coming in the 2-0 European Championship qualifying match away to Spain in October 2023. The left back hadn’t played any football since Brentford’s 2-0 Premier League win away to Chelsea 16 days later until last week’s 3-1 defeat at Nottingham Forrest for the Bees.
It was a serious hamstring injury which kept the 23-year old out of first team action for 659 days as he managed the last few minutes off the bench. Last weekend he got slightly more game time under his belt, coming on in the 79th minute as Brentford beat Aston Villa 1-0 courtesy of an early Dango Ouattara goal.
He may get the chance to play even more on Tuesday night when Bournemouth visit the Vitality Stadium in the second round of the EFL Cup as well as their match away to Sunderland in the Premier League next weekend. Regardless, it’s likely that Steve Clarke will want to bring the former Hearts star back into the Scotland set-up when he names his squad on Monday to get the impressive young full back reintegrated into the national team fold ahead of their World Cup qualifying campaign which he will hopefully be able to play an important part in.
Hibs striker Bowie catches eye but faces competition from Scotland regulars
Hibs fans, and indeed supporters across Scottish football, are keen to see Kieron Bowie not just called up to the national team but heavily in contention for a spot in the starting XI. The 22-year old earned his first senior cap in the 4-0 friendly win over Liechtenstein in June.
Bowie has scored three goals in seven appearances for the Hibees this season including one of the greatest goals Easter Road has seen in many years in their UEFA Europa Conference League match against Partizan Belgrade. It is unlikely, but not impossible, that he will now be dropped from the squad as a whole but a place in the team may be harder to come by.
Bowie was one one of five strikers named in the last Scotland camp and that number will likely be reduced to four for this time around. Competition for those places could be fierce.
Tommy Conway netted his first Middlesbrough goal of the season in their 2-1 EFL Championship win away to Norwich City at the weekend while George Hirst, despite not scoring for Ipswich Town since the opening weekend of the season, has featured regularly in English football’s second tier so far.
The Serie A season has not yet begun but Che Adams has played his first competitive football in the Copa Italia where Torino saw off Serie B side Modena 1-0. Closer to home, Hearts’ skipper Lawrence Shankland has already scored four goals in seven games this season but three of those did come against lower league opposition in the Premier Sports Cup group stage.
Jambos’ teammate James Wilson also grabbed two goals in the League Cup but has yet to net a league goal and, at 18, the future still seems very much ahead of him on the international stage rather than right here and now. Meanwhile, Kevin Nisbet has played less than 45 minutes of football since returning to Millwall from his loan spell at Aberdeen last season.
That just leaves Tartan Army and Steve Clarke favourite Lyndon Dykes, who has also had his injury problems to deal with. However, he is back playing regularly in the EFL Championship again and got his first Birmingham City goal of the season in their 2-1 win away to Blackburn Rovers on August 16 so expect the former Livingston forward to be back in the national team set up.