Nisbet striking all the right notes now

WHEN Dunfermline played hardball over a fee for striker Kevin Nisbet, they had logic on their side. Dundee United were asking top dollar for Lawrence Shankland. And the Tannadice club wanted to recruit Nisbet as his long-term replacement. But senior figures within East End Park looked at the two goalscorers and thought Nisbet was the better player. They saw no reason whatsoever why they should accept less than their valuation for their boy if United wanted ten times that for Shankland. And, on current evidence, it’s hard to find fault with their judgment. The Euro 2020 finals take place in six months’ time. And right now you’d be hard pushed to say Shankland is a stick-on for Scotland’s first appearance at a major finals since 1998. He scored a terrific effort against a broken and shattered Kilmarnock team the other night. But that was only his third goal of the season. The free-scoring player of the Scottish Championship is finding life tougher in the Premiership and, while that’s true of his team-mates as well, it raises questions over his international status. Nisbet’s sublime finish consigned an on-form St Mirren team to a rare defeat on Wednesday night. The powerful young Hibs striker now has 12 goals to his credit this season and is coming up late on the rails in the race to be part of Steve Clarke’s squad for the finals. You can pretty much predict who the other forwards will be. Lyndon Dykes is an absolute stick-on. Despite obvious fitness issues, you can’t keep Leigh Griffiths down. And Clarke clearly sees something in Oli McBurnie others don’t. In effect, that leaves one more place in the squad for a striker. And if Nisbet (right) turns up at Ibrox with Hibs today and turns in a decent audition against a Rangers team gunning for their 12th straight win in the Premiership, he’ll give himself a hell of a chance of landing the part.