FLETCHER IS HAMMER OF THE ROCK WITH HISTORIC TREBLE

‘It means a lot. It will be one of the best achievements of my career. ‘I’ve got the match ball and I’ll probably put it in a glass cabinet. ‘I have another one from my Hibs days when I scored a hat-trick against Gretna, so I will put it next to that. That was my last hat-trick.’ Fletcher had last scored for Scotland against Iceland in 2009 and had drawn a blank since his return from a 19-month international exile in 2011. The 28-year-old gave thanks to manager Gordon Strachan for sticking by him and hopes this boost will help him over the remainder of the Euro 2016 campaign, which continues with a crunch trip to Dublin in June. ‘It has been a while since I scored for Scotland and I was aware of that — because I get told every day,’ he added. ‘It’s good to get off the mark again, especially after being out for a long time. Was it getting to me? Not really. I was still confident going in to games. ‘To be honest, I haven’t had many chances in games but I had a lot against Gibraltar. ‘I could have scored more than three but I was just happy to get the goals. ‘Scoring the hat-trick will definitely help my confidence going into the summer. Hopefully, I have done enough to stay in the gaffer’s plans and I’m looking forward to it. ‘The manager likes my link-up play. I know people have been saying I haven’t scored but I’ve been doing other parts. ‘He has praised me for that and if I can keep doing it — and add goals — then I’ll be happy. ‘He has been a massive support to me. He has been great with me since I came back into the Scotland squad and I owe a lot to him.’

“I’m proud to be part of our history”