St Johnstone midfielder Danny Swanson should be in Scotland boss Gordon Strachan’s thoughts after making a sparkling start to the season.
That is the opinion of Saints captain Steven Anderson, who saw Swanson put in a man-of-the-match performance against Dundee at McDiarmid Park on Sunday.
The former Dundee United man was at the centre of all that was good about the Perth club’s play in the 2-1 win over the Dark Blues.
He produced a box of tricks to create chance after chance, and topped it all off by scoring from the penalty spot.
Swanson, then at Tannadice, appeared to be on the brink of a cap when he was called up in October 2011 by Craig Levein for the Euro 2012 qualifiers against Liechtenstein and Spain.
He didn’t feature but was subsequently in line to face Cyprus in a friendly the following month. However, a medial ligament injury scuppered his chances of representing his country.
Now he deserves another chance, according to Anderson.
“Danny gives us that extra bit of creativity,” said the Saints skipper.
“He picks up balls in dangerous areas and drives at people.
“He also makes it difficult for defenders to go and mark him.
“He had multiple shots against Dundee and scored the penalty for us.
“I think Gordon Strachan will maybe be looking at him because he is quality and has been great for us.
“Danny is that good.
“He has been in the Scotland squad before and I don’t see why he can’t be again.”
Anderson, who was making his 200th top-flight appearance for St Johnstone, opened the scoring against Dundee.
He then went from saint to sinner by giving away a penalty that was scored by Rory Loy to make it 2-1 in the closing stages.
He thought the scoreline was fair and is now looking ahead to tomorrow’s trip to Ibrox to face Rangers.
Anderson said: “I thought we were the better side against Dundee.
“We were hanging on at the end, to be fair, after I gave away the penalty.
“But we were the better team overall.
“I think it was only a matter of time before we got the goal.
“I couldn’t miss!
“It was only five yards out but getting the result was the main thing.”
Anderson claimed that staying in the league is still the priority for Saints despite being in fourth spot, just behind Hearts on goal difference.
“We are still in the first third of the season so we just need to keep getting results and get a bit of consistency,” he said.
“If that keeps us in the top six then great.
“To be honest, our target every year is to stay up.
“That is still the case.
“Once we have secured our position in the league then we start looking up the way.
“I think the fans expect more, to be honest, because we have done so well these last few years.
“We don’t have the biggest of budgets but every season we try to top what we have done before.
“But it’s about staying up and then taking it from there.”