St Johnstone loan winger Arvydas Novikovas is hoping that an impressive spell of form with his new club will help win him a place in the Lithuanian team for their upcoming glamour clash with world champions Spain.
The 20-year-old already has two full international caps but knew that if had spent the next few months sitting in the stand or on the bench with Hearts he wouldn’t have had much chance of adding to them in the near future.
All that could change if the left-sided wide man can nail down a starting place with Saints and catch the eye of Lithuanian head coach Raimondas Zutautas.
Novikovas, who is available to Perth boss Derek McInnes for the clash with Inverness Caledonian Thistle this afternoon after being cup-tied for their last match against Partick Thistle, explained, “The gaffer at
Hearts said I would play games this season but other players have been doing really well and you don’t change the team in that situation.
“I said to him I would wait for my chance and I didn’t want to go on loan to a club outside the SPL.
“But when I heard St Johnstone were interested in me I was happy to come here.
“Next month the national team will be playing Spain and Poland and I need to play some games to be match fit and to be in the national coach’s thoughts.
“I’ve already got two caps in friendlies against Ukraine and Hungary but I want to play in a qualifier. Poland is a friendly but Spain is a big European Championship match.
“I can also still play for the under-21s and we are in a group which gives us a good chance of qualifying.”
He added, “The best thing for me personally would be to play in a lot of matches and hopefully score some goals.Top six”It will also be good if, by doing that, I help St Johnstone finish in the top six.
“I will be trying my hardest for Saints and it is important my national coach sees I’m playing matches.
“I don’t want to sit on the bench, and I think I’ve made a good decision coming here.
“Then next season at Hearts I hope to be ready to challenge the likes of David Templeton and Andy Driver for a regular place in the starting team.”
Novikovas doesn’t feel St Johnstone fans saw the best of him in his debut against Hamilton at the start of the month, which only lasted 45 minutes.
He recalled, “My first game for the club wasn’t easy because I had been training for Hearts that morning and then I had to travel up to Perth to play against Hamilton for St Johnstone.
“It all happened very quickly and I didn’t feel I played my best. I also twisted my ankle that night.
“But I know the guys better now and they know me. I think it will be good for me here.
“It was frustrating that I wasn’t eligible to play in the Scottish Cup against Partick Thistle and that our last match against Aberdeen was postponed because I just want to be playing now.
“I feel that I’ve adjusted to Scottish football, which is much more physical than in Lithuania or at Benfica, where I also played. The ball is in the air a lot more over here, but the overall standard is better than back home.
“Hopefully I’ll be able to make use of my pace and technique but I know that I still need to go to the gym to make me stronger.”
Other than the return of Novikovas, there aren’t likely to be any further changes to the Saints squad this Saturday.
McInnes said, “We drew up there earlier in the season and won late in the game at Perth. I would expect another tight game. There is a lesson for us in that first encounter.
“We played very well for an hour but only scored one goal. Then they had a 20-minute period when they might have won it. They deserved their point.
“As the away team you know there will be times in any game when the home side is going to have a good spell. We must show we have learned our lesson from the last trip up to Inverness.
“It looks like we will take a big support with us for the game. We have very rarely let down the fans in the past when we have that sort of backing and we hope to make it another memorable day.”
Meanwhile, Inverness manager Terry Butcher believes McInnes could emulate the success of his St Johnstone predecessor Owen Coyle, but first hopes to claim revenge against the Perth side.
He said, “Derek’s a terrific young manager and no wonder he’s being courted down south. Owen Coyle came from St Johnstone and Derek could follow along the same lines.”
Saints inflicted Caley Thistle’s first league defeat away from home for more than a year when Collin Samuel netted a late winner at McDiarmid Park on January 2.