Scotland captain Scott Brown reckons Stuart Armstrong has a bright international future ahead of him.
Following his inclusion in the pool that travelled to Croatia in June, Under-21 skipper Armstrong is set for his second taste of the senior squad after Gordon Strachan decided to take him to Norway for tonight’s friendly in Molde.
Armstrong has impressed for Dundee United in recent seasons and while wearing the armband with the Under-21s, so Brown sees no reason why the 21-year-old cannot make a successful and permanent step up.
“Stuart Armstrong has been great,” he told Courier Sport. “I’ve played against him for a couple of seasons now and he’s improving all the time.
“I saw him for the Under-21s the last time they played and he’s looking to be a top quality player.
“He looks to get forward at every opportunity and he’s making runs beyond strikers which not a lot of midfielders do these days.”
As one might expect, Monday’s pre-match press conference was dominated by questions about the return of old adversary Kris Boyd, although Brown is just glad to see the striker back in the fold.
“Boydie is a big-name player and I was surprised nobody else came in for him in the summer,” he said.
“Killie did well to keep hold of him and if he keeps going the way he is, I’m sure it will be hard for them.
“He’s been away and had a hard time in America and Turkey. It’s been tough for him, but coming back to Scotland with his first club has been great for him.
“He’s as good a finisher as I’ve played with. The first thing he did in training was put the ball in the top corner. As soon as he did that, I thought ‘Boydie’s back’.”
Question marks have perhaps been raised over Boyd’s workrate in the past, but Brown feels the forward has proved his critics wrong this season.
“When we played against Killie, Boydie worked his socks off,” he said. “It was great to see. That’s why the gaffer has rewarded him with the call-up.
“We work hard as a team, we work together and you don’t just want one guy standing up front.
“Some people said he didn’t work hard enough in the past, but he’s scored 300-odd goals in his career so I think he’s doing not too badly.”
With a long lay-off ahead for the Scotland squad, Brown is looking for the team to end the year on a positive note against Norway tonight.
He continued: “I don’t think you ever expect to go and get a result. You always know you have to work hard for the cause.
“We need to get on the ball and create chances. If we do that, we have guys like Boydie and Naisy (Steven Naismith) who can score goals for us.
“We don’t have another game for six months so it’s going to be a long time and it would be good to finish the year on a high.”