Holt still has a ‘long way to go’ before call-up

Jason Holt admits Gordon Strachan was right to leave him out of his Scotland squad – because he is not yet ready for international action.

The Ibrox midfielder has been in impressive form for the Light Blues this season, notching up 10 goals in 34 appearances.

He has helped Mark Warburton’s team open up a 14-point lead over tonight’s Ladbrokes Championship opponents Falkirk and put Gers on course for their top-flight return.

But his displays were not enough to convince Strachan to issue an invite when he named two 19-man squads for this month’s friendly double-header with the Czech Republic and Denmark.

That caused anger among the Light Blues legions – who were also unhappy that Ibrox skipper Lee Wallace was overlooked while Hibernian midfielder John McGinn was called up, even though his side are 17 points adrift in the promotion race.

However, Holt confessed he still has some way to go before he can stake a realistic claim for a dark blue jersey.

The 23-year-old said: “If you ask any player then they will have aspirations of playing for their country and I am no different.

“All you can do is keep working hard, trying to do well and you just never know.

“There are a lot of good players in that squad, players playing in the top leagues in England so I think I still have a long way to go.”

Meanwhile, there is also the small matter of next month’s William Hill Scottish Cup semi-final with Old Firm rivals Celtic to look forward to.

And Holt would like to see the promotion battle wrapped up before their Hampden clash comes around on April 17.

“The quicker you win a league the better, to be honest.

“But nothing is done and we just need to keep working hard to try and get to our aim which is promotion,” he said.

“But that isn’t done yet so we’ll keep fighting and keep going strong until we reach our objective.”

Jason Holt says he still has some way to go before he can stake a realistic claim for a Scotland jersey.