Johnny Russell has filled the Scotland camp full of confidence and Stevie May has a great chance to impress.
That was the message from assistant manager Mark McGhee as the Scots met up ahead of Friday night’s European Championship qualifier against the Republic of Ireland at Celtic Park.
The former Dundee United frontman was recruited to the squad at the weekend and has quickly made his positive presence felt at their Mar Hall training base.
The uncapped 24-year-old has scored four goals in his last four games, including a couple in a 5-0 win over Wolves on Saturday.
The Derby County man may not be expecting to come straight into contention for the Irish clash but that hasn’t affected his self-belief.
McGhee said: “Johnny is such a positive player. He is playing with a lot of confidence at Derby and scoring goals for them.
“Johnny is someone who gets his team up the park and he will run the ball forward. He adds things that are slightly different from others we have here so that’s a real plus.
“Most importantly of all, he has come in full of confidence and belief. Having someone like that around is only going to fuel the whole squad’s confidence.
“I watched him the other week at Brentford and at that point we were looking at people for the squad.
“Derby lost 2-1 and it wasn’t the best game.
“It wasn’t convincing so we were swaying a bit and then at the weekend he did enough to convince us that he should be part of it so it is a great boost for him.”
McGhee and manager Gordon Strachan are also looking for former St Johnstone striker May to shine.
McGhee said of the Sheffield Wednesday player: “Others have an opportunity this week. Stevie May, for instance, came in to train with us so we could have a look at him and he’s back here again.
“Stevie is training alongside Chris Martin, who is doing brilliantly at the top end of the Championship, and Steven Fletcher, who is playing in the Premier League.
“That puts a marker down as to where he is at.
“When he first came in we all took a step back because we didn’t quite expect him to be as good as he was at this stage but there’s no hesitation if he’s good enough we will have it.”
Joining Russell and May yesterday was Hearts right-back Callum Paterson, who was called in because Stoke City’s Phil Bardsley has a groin complaint that has left him doubtful.
“I don’t actually know for sure that Bardlsey is not coming,” said McGhee.
“We’ve not had that confirmed yet but we know obviously there is a problem and there is a big doubt over him.
“In the meantime we have brought Callum Paterson in and he will have his opportunity.”
Meanwhile, McGhee is in no doubt that the Irish match is far more important than the friendly against England back at Parkhead the following Tuesday.
“The England game is not irrelevant but it’s on a different level from the Ireland game,” he said.
“This is the most important game of our tenure, there’s no doubt about it. It’s a huge opportunity for both teams and it’s all about qualifying for France.
“We could beat England 6-0 but it doesn’t get us to France. No, this is the game.
“There’s been a lot of quite positive feedback from performances and recent results but, the fact is, all we have achieved so far is the minimum that would have been expected of us.
“We have beaten Georgia at home, we got a point away at Poland, which I think after us beating Poland over there last year people hoped we would get at least.
“That’s all we’ve got because we lost to Germany despite playing well.
“Therefore, at the moment, we’ve not really done anything more than what people would have expected from Scotland so I think we still have it all to prove.
“If we can get a positive result we can start to believe we actually are on the up.”
Asked if Germany’s poor results had changed the dynamic of Group D, McGhee said: “I expect Germany to come steamrolling back in the second phase of the group.
“The fact Poland got those three points against them does change it though.
“We might be looking at having to beat Poland at home, whereas if they hadn’t beaten Germany a draw might have done us.
“It’s hard to extrapolate it any way and every way but the best way to look at it is that we are playing Ireland and there are three points up for grabs.”