Ross McCrorie is disappointed not to have made the Scotland squad but has insisted he will use that as a motivation to catch Steve Clarke’s eye.
The versatile Aberdeen star has played well this season but it wasn’t enough to see him make the squad for the Euro qualifiers against Cyprus and Spain. The 24-year-old has still to win his first cap and really force his way into Clarke’s plans despite being last called up for the match against Slovakia and Czech Republic back in 2020. The Dons player has done well at right-back this season although Clarke has decided to recall Nathan Paterson after injury and Aaron Hickey.
McCrorie, when asked if he was disappointed not to make the Scotland team, answered: “Definitely, yes. Not just that, previous squads I’ve been disappointed as well. I feel I’ve been playing at a top level for a while now. It’s just up to me to keep up that consistency and wait for my chance. My full focus is on Aberdeen. I want Aberdeen to do the best we can and if I get international honours for playing well with Aberdeen that would be great. It’s an aim of mine to be called up one day and get a few caps. It’s frustrating at the time but I just need to keep playing at a high level.”
The former Scotland Under-21 cap has had no contact from Clarke or Scotland. He also dismissed the notions that his versatility and playing in the Premiership for a club outside of Celtic and Rangers were barriers.
McCrorie knows the better he and Aberdeen can do then it will strengthen his international case. That starts today as third-placed Hearts come to town, the Dons could cut the gap to four points with a win.
He confirmed: “We are down to the business end of the season now so there’s big games coming up every week. If we want to be where we want to be at the end of the season, it’s up to us to keep picking up results.
“At a club like Aberdeen we just need to be challenging near the top end of the league.”
Dons beat Hearts in the Granite City last time around but the Reds still have the pain of the 5-0 defeat at Tynecastle, in one of Jim Goodwin’s final stands.
“Absolutely,” he said. “It is like after any defeat, You have to have short memories as a footballer and go on to the next game and focus on that and be confident.”
McCrorie is also adamant Aberdeen are a far different proposition now than under Goodwin.
“We have improved and we’ve got a few new players in as well in the January window,” the right-back added.
“The boys have been brilliant and really improved us as a team. Not just that, we have had Barry Robson come in as well and he has brought in new ideas and different styles of training methods as well so it’s been good.”
