Hibs’ striker Kevin Nisbet capped a tremendous season with his first international goal after coming on as a substitute in Scotland’s 2-2 draw with the Netherlands in Faro last night.
Manager Steve Clarke was without John Fleck, who returned a positive Covid test, and David Marshall, Stephen O’Donnell, Nathan Patterson, Grant Hanley, John McGinn and Che Adams, who were left at the training camp in Spain as a precaution.
The Scots took the lead in the 10th minute when Jack Hendry fired a superb strike from the edge of the area but Netherlands equalised seven minutes later with a well-taken shot from Memphis Depay
Nisbet gave Scotland the lead with his first touch, converting a cross from Andrew Robertson then set up David Turnbull whose strike from 20-yards shaved the crossbar.
Depay denied the Scots a famous victory with an 89th minute free-kick.
After the final whistle Nisbet said: “I am delighted. For a striker it is something you always need to try and get over as quickly as possible, thankfully I got it tonight.
“Scoring for your country is the pinnacle of your career – and thankfully I have done it. Hopefully others will come.
“It has been a great season. There have been ups and downs on and off the park but this is another milestone ticked off for me.
“It’s just about me replicating that performance and keep scoring goals for Scotland.
“I am a very confident person. I have always said I will score goals wherever I go and I am doing that. Thankfully I scored and it puts me in the manager’s thoughts. It is a very strong group. As you can see, seven probable starters left out.
“To come out and put in a performance like that is great and shows you the strength in depth of the squad. We said before the game to get a good result and put a marker down for the start of the games and we have done that.”
Scotland face Luxembourg on Sunday and Nisbet added “There’s a lot of belief in the team. I think we can do very well in the tournament coming up, but the next one for us is Luxembourg. We need to put in a similar performance and try and get the win.”
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.
