Hibs’ midfielder John McGinn was named man of the match in Scotland’s friendly defeat against Holland at Pittodrie last night.
McGinn was up against Liverpool’s Georginio Wijnaldum, Roma’s Kevin Strootman and Daley Blind of Manchester United and believes that playing against such quality players will be of benefit for the national side.
After the game he said: “It was a tough game against a side with a lot of really good players, some of them are playing for big clubs around Europe.
“To be named man of the match was great, but it was disappointing not to have taken a more positive result and ended 2017 as a team unbeaten, but we can take positives from the game and learn from the mistakes we made.
“Playing against a side like that is a good test for the Scotland team as Holland, despite not qualifying for the World Cup, are still a top side and it lets us get a feel for the type of team we need to get positive results against in the next qualifying campaign.
“It is always a great feeling to play for Scotland, but it meant a lot more to be named in the starting line-up for last night’s game.
“I feel like I’ve been having a good season, as have the other midfielders at Hibs, so to be put into the Scotland team was a fantastic feeling.
“To continue to keep my place in the side when the new manager of the national team comes in I know that I keep performing well for Hibs to put myself in his thoughts and to keep being selected.”
John graduated from Telford College in 2010 with an HNC in Practical Journalism and since then he worked for the North Edinburgh News, The Southern Reporter, the Irish News Review and The Edinburgh Reporter. In addition he has been published in the Edinburgh Evening News and the Hibernian FC Programme.
