The Scotsman

Considine hopes his Dons displays can finally lead to Scotland call-up

- By COLIN FORBES

Aberdeen defender Andrew Considine is keeping his “fingers crossed” he can convince Steve Clarke he is worth a maiden Scotland call up at the age of 32.

Despite being a Dons regular for 15 years the versatile player has never been invited to train with the national team. But he has been tipped to win a place in Clarke’s squad ahead of this month’s Euro 2020 playoff with Israel. Considine’s Pittodrie partner Scott Mckenna has been ruled out with a torn hamstring, while Hearts defender John Souttar’s season is also over after rupturing his Achilles.

Now Considine is hoping one last solid display against Hibernian today could finally end his long wait.

“If it came I’d be over the moon,” he admitted. “I can only do as much as I can on the park and produce the performanc­es. If Steve Clarke thinks they are worthy of playing at the highest level, then fantastic. But, fingers crossed, we’ll just have to wait and see.

“The bottom line is it is up to the Scotland manager whether he wants to call me up or not, but to be spoken about potentiall­y getting a call-up is great for me.”

Meanwhile, Dons boss Derek

Mcinnes admits there is no disguising Aberdeen’s awful home record.

Aberdeen have not registered a win at Pittodrie since Boxing Day while their last four home Premiershi­p fixtures have ended in defeat. Mcinnes knows that is not the type of record that is going to see his side achieve their aim of a third-place finish.

“It’s something we’re not pleased about,” he said. “Over the last few weeks the performanc­es levels, even against Celtic, have been much better. But you can’t hide behind that stat. It’s not good enough and doesn’t get the job done for what we want to achieve.

“If we can maintain our recent away form and performanc­es of late and transform that home record over the remaining games then hopefully that gives us a chance to finish the season strongly. If we can find the form that I feel we are capable of, if we can get that consistenc­y of performanc­e, consistenc­y of results and that motivation to finish third then hopefully we can give ourselves a chance to finish third.”

 ??  ?? ANDREW CONSIDINE “To be spoken about potentiall­y getting a callup is great”
ANDREW CONSIDINE “To be spoken about potentiall­y getting a callup is great”

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