Hornby doubles his luck in Belgium
SCOTLAND Under-21s striker Fraser Hornby insists he can’t wait to kick on after netting his first ever senior goals as he rattled in a double for Belgian side KV Kortrijk.
The highly-rated hitman was name-checked by Scotland manager Steve Clarke last week as someone he was keeping an eye on, after his loan move from Everton.
Hornby – who netted five goals in a two game spell for Scot Gemmill’s Under-21s in wins against the Netherlands and Andorra last year – scored a brace for Kortrijk in a 4-0 win against St Truiden, which were his first senior goals in the game.
Hornby said: “It was a great feeling to finally get off the mark both here and in a full game.
“Obviously, I have scored a few goals for Scotland at all age levels and plenty for Everton Under-23s, but it means more when you have done it at senior level.
“I have really enjoyed it here and I think I have settled in well and I like the way we have played.
“We’ve played some good football recently and not been rewarded with the results. So to get a 4-0 win is well deserved for the team.”
Hornby is certain to lead the line for Gemmill’s side in their double-header against Lithuania at Tynecastle on Thursday and against Czech Republic in Uherske Hradiste next week. he also knows this camp offers him the perfect chance to stake a claim for the all-important Euro 2020 play-off matches in March.
“That’s what I am here for,” he said. “I’m part of the squad and I’d like to be part of the team. I just want to go out and try to perform in training. If it goes well then it will take care of itself. The objective for this squad is to finish as high as we can in this group and see where we end up. It’s all building towards the playoffs which will be big.
“It’s an incentive to be involved and something you want to be a part of, but I want to do as well as I can in this camp and see where it takes you.”
Meanwhile, Scotland have received a glimmer of hope for this week’s Euro 2020 showdown in Moscow after Russia’s second-top scorer in their squad, Fyodor Smolov, was ruled out.
Few give the Scots much of a chance of qualifying after crashing to couble-header defeats to Russian and Belgium. However, the Russians have suffered a serious injury setback ahead of the clash.
Lokomotiv Moscow hitman Smolov has 14 international goals in 39 games - behind only captain Artem Dzyuba for goals scored - and is out for a couple of weeks after injuring his ankle in the Champions League defeat to Atletico Madrid.
He’s been replaced by 22-year-old Aleksandr Sobolev, who has yet to be capped but is top scorer for Krylia Sovetov Samara.