Josh McPake backed himself to force his way into the Scotland set-up after a stunning start to his Hearts career.
The 25-year-old winger arrived as a relatively low-key signing from St Johnstone this summer after agreeing a pre-contract in January but he has swiftly worked his way into Wouter Vrancken’s starting line-up and won over the Jambos support.
McPake’s latest outing brought an assist for James Wilson and a magnificent solo goal in front of new Scotland boss Sebastien Pocognoli – watching from the stand – in Thursday’s 3-1 Edinburgh derby win away to Hibernian.
“I do feel ready,” he said when asked about the prospect of a maiden international call-up later this month for the upcoming Nations League fixtures against Slovenia (twice), Switzerland and North Macedonia.
“When I was at St Johnstone, people would ask me all the time if I felt ready for the step up to Hearts, and I said ‘yeah’.
“And I do feel like I’m ready for that step up, but it’s not my decision to make.
“Hopefully performances like that (against Hibs) might help my case there. My goal was a massive one for everyone, I think.
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“But I’m just taking it one game at a time at the moment. I’ve still got a good few games until the international break, so my full focus is on Hearts and things like that (Scotland) should come naturally.”
Hearts – who host Dundee on Sunday – are now unbeaten in their last seven matches in all competitions and have won each of their last four domestic fixtures after a chastening start in which they lost their opening four under Vrancken.
McPake is thriving within the Belgian’s bold attacking style.
“The way we play, I feel it suits me very, very well and I’m reaping the rewards so far,” he said.
“I’ve worked on my fitness, my speed and my end product a lot, so I have that confidence going into games.
“I obviously back myself in one v ones going forward, and that’s where we got the first goal from. I felt like I put in a few other crosses, created chances, winning corners, and the team just gains confidence from it.
“And then at my goal it’s just about driving into the box and seeing what happens. I think that’s been my goal every single game.”
