Scotland forward sets dual objective after Ivory Coast test and delivers ‘incredible’ message to Tartan Army

Steve Clarke’s squad fell to back-to-back defeats, going down 1-0 to Ivory Coast at the Hill Dickinson Stadium on Tuesday night after losing by the same scoreline against Japan on Friday at Hampden, but Hirst insists there are positives to take from both performances.

Hirst, who was handed his first international start in over nine months against Ivory Coast, is convinced both games will stand them in good stead as Scotland look to make history by qualifying for the knockout stages of a major tournament for their first time in North America this summer.

“I thought we showed a lot of promise,” said Hirst. “We caused them [Ivory Coast] a lot of issues, especially the first 10-15 minutes, we were really on top and creating a lot of good chances, getting right at them. We just got caught on the break, which can happen. You are playing against some unbelievable players.

“I think the Robbo [Andy Robertson] said it, we've used this camp to try a few different things. This is a shape we have not played for a while, but it has been good to us. We just got caught putting one of two many forward. It was a tough first-half after that; we were probably a little bit sloppy. But I thought we came out brilliantly in the second-half and showed a lot of energy.

“You can learn a lot from this. We've had two very different games. Tonight was really physically, a little bit end-to-end, it was like a basketball game. But when you get to summer, you're going to play a whole host of different teams, so there's a lesson to be learned from tonight. Going forward, we can take those lessons and hopefully improve.”

With Scotland’s World Cup opener against Haiti now just 72 days away, Hirst thanked the Tartan Army fans, who turned up in their thousands at Everton’s Hill Dickinson Stadium on Tuesday night. Set to return to the EFL Championship automatic promotion race with his club side Ipswich Town, he has promised them he will do everything he can to be fit and firing in America this summer as he bids to fire his club side back to the English Premier League.

“For me, as it will be for a lot of the other boys, focus is back to club football,” said Hirst. “Playing as well as you can and staying fit, putting yourself in the conversation to be in the squad in the summer. This camp has been really good, the training has been good, the two games have been good in terms of learning. Now it is time to go back to club football and finish the season as strongly as possible.

“They [the fans] were incredible. It's not exactly next door. It is a bit of a drive to Liverpool. You probably don't expect 30,000 to show up, I certainly didn't. It's a friendly game, for them to show up in the numbers they did is incredible. They follow us home and away wherever we go. The support is definitely not going unnoticed.”

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