Hearts kid called up for national service

The 19-year-old is one of two players elevated from his country's under-21 side, the other being Mantas Fridrikas of FBK Kaunas.

Hearts captain Marius Zaliukas is also in the squad alongside former Tynecastle colleagues Andrius Velicka, Saulius Mikoliunas, Linas Pilibaitis and Kestutis Ivaskevicius.

Lithuania face Hungary on Wednesday week with national coach Raimondas Zutautas keen to examine his options ahead of the European Championship qualifiers resuming next year. He believes that Novikovas and Fridrikas have the potential to step up.

"We will try to infuse them into the national team," said Zutautas. "This year they've been invited to a training camp and they left a good impression." Novikovas made his full international debut in May this year when Lithuania lost 4-0 to Ukraine in Kharkiv. However, he has found himself marginalised at Hearts since the new season started and to date has made only three competitive appearances.

Zutautas will use the Hungary friendly to assess which players he can rely on next year. Lithuania's squad currently has seven players sitting on a yellow card and therefore on the verge of a one-game suspension if they incur a further caution in the Euro 2012 qualifiers.

Should Novikovas impress, he could earn himself a place in the squad for next September's encounter with Scotland at Hampden Park.