GARRY O'CONNOR SET OUT FOR HONG KONG
with the Scotland squad, and the young Hibee
is just raring to get going at a time when most professional footballers
are happy enough to see the back of the football season, looking forward
to sunshine holidays with their families! And while the striker, who
has finished the season in sensational fashion, is raring to go another
Gary is looking to stay - with O'Connor's Scotland and Hibs team-mate
Gary Caldwell admitting that a three-year contract on offer by Newcastle
United could see his stay at Easter Road extended!
O'Connor failed to
find the target on Sunday for only the second time in nine starts since
Bobby Williamson arrived at the club - and that cost the striker at
least a share of the 'leading scorer' honours, with Paco Luna's 10
strikes enough to ensure the Spaniard will go down in the Easter Road
record books for the season. Missing a couple of chances against St
Johnstone has done nothing to blunt the confidence and enthusiasm felt
by O'Connor however, the striker saying: "I think
I can score goals for any team and if I get a shot at goal I'll always
have a go, and that is what a good striker should always do. I will
have a pop at goal whenever the chance comes and it would mean the world
to me to get my first goal for Scotland, that is my next ambition."
First though
O'Connor has to start for the national squad, having had
just 15 minutes
against Nigeria in his international debut last month. That call-up
came in for some criticism by those who feel that O'Connor has simply
not had enough experience to merit a place in the Scotland squad, but
the policy of picking youngsters adopted by national coach Berti Vogts
is in the view of most the correct one, providing O'Connor and a raft of
other Scottish youngsters a very real chance to claim places in the
European Championship qualifying squad. "I think
I have deserved my call-up because I have had a good season, but we are
all fighting for a place in the European Championship squad,"
O'Connor said, adding: "I do think that the more
experienced guys are still to come in, so know there is a lot of
competition about. The next couple of weeks are going to be a big test
for us, this is a young side and these are not Mickey Mouse games, it is
serious stuff because we are playing for places in the squad next
season."
Joining O'Connor on
the Scotland trip is Gary Caldwell, who after a three-month loan spell
has found himself catapulted into the full international squad. And now
Caldwell is thinking over an offer of a 3-year contact from Newcastle
boss Bobby Robson, with the option of remaining at Easter Road for the
first year of that contract. Caldwell said: "I
will be looking at my options when I return with Scotland. I'll have to
sit down with Bobby Robson and Bobby Williamson and talk it through, but
there is every chance I will stay at Hibernian. I have enjoyed my time
at the club and it was through playing regular first-team football in
the SPL with Hibs that I received international recognition."
Any deal that would
keep Caldwell at Easter Road would be celebrated by the Hibs support,
who had expected they had seen the last of the classy central defender
in the 1-0 win on Sunday at Perth.
