Hibs ace addresses Scotland hopes and Euro ambitions as Easter Road striker targets World Cup spot
Close season interrupted - but first Scotland cap worth the extra graft
A disrupted summer was definitely a price worth paying for the honour that interrupted Kieron Bowie’s holiday plans. If anything, the experience has simply made him more eager to take on extra work – for Hibs AND Scotland, all going well.
Awarded his first senior international cap by Steve Clarke during the June international window, the former Fulham prospect coming off the bench for the final dozen minutes or so of a one-sided away win over lowly Liechtenstein, Bowie is definitely eager to prove that his pedigree with Scot Gemmill’s Under-21s can be translated into World Cup goals for the ‘big’ team. Have inherited the No. 9 jersey at club level for the start of his second season in green-and-white, the physically imposing centre forward harbours realistic ambitions to play the same role for his country one day.
Looking forward to European opportunities after helping David Gray’s team to a third-place finish in the Scottish Premiership, despite requiring surgery on a hamstring injury that hampered his ability to contribute, Bowie should be leading the line for Hibs when they take on FC Midtjylland in their Europa League second qualifying round tie later this month. He’s eager to get started, despite a distinct lack of time off.
“It's mad because us lads that were away (on international duty), we've only been in for just over a week, and then we've got Midtjylland in less than two weeks' time so it's a very quick turnaround,” he said, adding: “But we feel in a good place and just need to get back to our fittest and get playing well.
“I think in terms of time off I had around three weeks, maybe four weeks-ish, so it's not long. It's obviously alright, but it's not long at all.
“I had two weeks off after the Rangers game and then we were away for eight or nine days. Then I had another week-and-a-half, two weeks off after that, which is good from the club to let us have that extra break when the other lads are in a week earlier than us.
“It's good to have that time off, but you can't really switch off when you've got two toddlers at home. I should have just came and hid in here!
“I feel like at the end of the season I was just getting into the gear that I'm in and I feel like now I just need to do as much as I can and just play the best I can play.”
Eagerly anticipating an increased workload in the campaign ahead, Bowie pointed out: “I've played in England before obviously, and that's Tuesday, Saturday, Tuesday, Saturday. It's relentless down there, so I've been used to it previously, but then obviously with my injury and stuff, it's sort of taking a toll on my body. But I'm hoping just to try and get back to fit as I can and be able to adapt to being able to play Thursday, Sunday.
“I mean, obviously I want to do as much as I can in the league. But then also now to play in Europe is a big thing for us as a club and hopefully I can do well in that as well.
“I need to do as much as I can now, because during the season you don't get the opportunity to do as much running as you can do now. You just got to do as much as you can to put yourself in stead for the season.
“I'm definitely a lot closer to my best now, especially with a pre-season. I’ve helped myself a lot during off-season, and hopefully I can look to more goals this season.”
International ‘honour’ sparks desire for more caps
More goals would be grand, of course. Not just from a Hibs perspective. With Scotland heading into a World Cup qualification campaign, Clarke is in a position that will have been familiar to many a predecessor – namely, crying out for an international-class centre forward.
Bowie, who says he’ll get the jersey from his Scotland debut framed, insisted: “I mean, to play for Scotland, it's just an honour. And then hopefully in the future I can get more call-ups, and we'll see what happens.
“No, unfortunately my family didn’t travel out to see me. They just watched it on the TV. It's a long way to go, just to go to Liechtenstein and then not even sure if I'm going to play!
“I just sort of take it on my stride. I don't really overthink things too much, I just sort of take it day by day and see what happens.”