Hibs star John McGinn looking to make Scotland impression

Scotland duty for McGinn. Picture: Toby Williams

While his team-mates might be wondering how they let a lead slip against Dundee United, he’ll be preparing for two vital World Cup qualifiers with Scotland.“It will be good for me to get away,” said McGinn. “I’d much rather be going away with Scotland on the back of three points and a good individual performance. To go with neither is disappointing. But hopefully I can train well and get involved in these games.”

Following his dark blue debut – and man-of-the-match performance – in the March friendly against Denmark, McGinn is having to bide his time for another opportunity but is unperturbed about that. “I’m just delighted to be in the squad,” he added. “I know how hard it is to get in because there are some good players who haven’t made it. I’ve just got to go and show I deserve to  be there.”

The double-header against Lithuania and Slovakia amounts to a “huge week” for Gordon Strachan’s men. “We got a great start beating  Malta so we need to carry that on,” said the midfielder. “We’d like six points but it doesn’t always work out like that. We’ll look to get three at Hampden on Saturday.”

After Slovakia it will be  England next, a tie which has just got even more intriguing in the wake of the departure of Sam Allardyce. “It’s obviously interesting from the English point of view but we have to concentrate on ourselves,” said McGinn. “Thankfully there are no bungs being flung around up here.”  England may not be any less formidable and McGinn fully anticipates a gruelling qualifying campaign. “It’s a tough group, everyone knows that, but we’ve got the players in the country to make an impact.” One of them is Oliver Burke, Scotland’s most expensive footballer, who’s just scored his first Bundesliga goal for RB Leipzig.

“Oli’s doing well in Germany and hopefully a few can follow his lead,” McGinn added.