Exclusive:Hibs star on Scotland hopes, scoring ambitions - and watching Hearts kid jump queue into Steve Clarke's squad

Local rivalries aside, Kieron Bowie has no complaints about Hearts teenager James Wilson skipping the queue, so to speak, to gain fast track entry into Steve Clarke’s Scotland squad. If pressed, the Hibs striker will even admit to being a little bit grateful of the rest provided by a couple of days away from football during the recent international break.

Yet Bowie remains absolutely determined to prove that his performances for Scotland Under-21s can be replicated at senior international level. And he knows that impressing Clarke – yet to have a proper discussion with the former Fulham forward – is all down to his efforts at club level.

Wilson became the youngest player ever to represent Scotland when he was thrown into last week’s Nations League play-off against Greece at Hampden, the 18-year-old – who was eligible to represent four different countries – effectively committing himself to the Scots just by turning up. Bowie, who harbours long-term ambitions to become the answer to our national team’s search for an elite No. 9, believes the kid deserved his chance.

Northern Ireland lurking in wings for Wilson

“He's a young lad and he's had a really good season as well,” said Bowie, the former Raith prospect adding. “He's warranted that. And it’s good to tie him down to Scotland as well.

“I heard about Northern Ireland or whatever, so to tie him down was part of it. He's a good player and he's had a good season - and he deserves it.”

Bowie, who suffered a serious hamstring injury on Under-21 duty back in September, is still working his way back to full match sharpness. His first start for Hibs delayed until February as he took a painstaking road to recovery, he came off the bench to win and score a penalty in Saturday’s 3-0 trouncing of St Johnstone.

If he’s a long way off peak performance levels just now, it is slightly odd to learn that no-one from the Scotland coaching staff has been in touch to offer encouragement or advice to such an obvious talent, the 22-year-old, asked how much dialogue there had been with Clarke or his deputies, revealing: “Nothing at all. It’s just in the back of my mind to be honest. I'm just trying to do my best for this club.

“The 21s is a lot different to first team international games. Obviously you've got top professional players even in 21s - but a lot of them play under-21 age group with their clubs. So it's a lot different – and the senior game is a lot more of a physical game as well.

“But I definitely have ambitions with the senior national team. Especially being out of the 21s now, you see that there are lads my age – and younger – getting opportunities. You don’t see what that can’t be you.

“I just have to play consistently week in, week out. And most importantly, score more goals, I think I need to bring that to my game.”

Physically strong after days off

Admitting he’d been tired over the closing stages of a busy schedule leading into the international break, Bowie insisted he’s feeling physically strong, explaining: “I’m in a good place. I was a bit knackered to be honest after coming back and then playing quite a few games in a row. Just to come out helped.

“I spoke to the gaffer, who said: ‘Look, we’ll bring you out just to give you a bit of a rest’. Obviously we had three days off last week, so that helped a lot.

“We were in Tuesday, Wednesday, Thursday. So a couple of light days, then we had a bounce game on Thursday. I played about 80 minutes in that, just to get minutes in the legs and keep the momentum going and keep playing. Just to give me a bit of a rest so I’d be ready to come off the bench and help the team from there.

“It was a bit of a relief to be honest, just to get another goal. All my goal involvements have been off the bench.

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“Hopefully it makes my case for a start but, I mean, penalties are one of the easier things to do. Myko (Kuharevich) did well against St Johnstone, so he's sort of warranted that next game. So we'll see what happens and what the gaffer thinks,

“True, I did win the penalty. And we had a few opportunities and stuff before that. I just felt like goals were coming, because they were sort of open towards the end of the game. Thankfully, I got that goal, because they’re all important.”

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