MARC McNulty, the Hibernian forward who made his first two appearances for Scotland last week, was touched when his father along with his brother and a couple of friends travelled out to San Marino on Sunday to see him play for his country.
Until, that is, he spotted him booing the national team along with other members of the Tartan Army.
McNulty was rewarded for his fine form for Hibs – he had scored seven times in as many games for the Easter Road club going into the opening Euro 2020 double header – with run-outs against both Kazakhstan in Nursultan and San Marino in Serravalle.
However, the Reading loanee, who came on as a substitute in both games, was unable to prevent Alex McLeish’s side from slipping to a 3-0 loss in their first match or record more than a 2-0 triumph against the minnows in their second.
READ MORE: Archie Macpherson: One defeat stands alone on Scotland's list of worst ever
It was a harsh introduction to international football, made all the harder by his own flesh and blood joining in with the snipers.
“It feels brilliant to be a Scotland player,” he said. “Obviously our performance was not the greatest, but it’s a proud moment for myself and my family to play for my country.
“I was delighted to get on the pitch. After getting my call-up it’s all been a bit surreal for me. I’ve really enjoyed being away with the boys. Obviously, it’s not been a great result, but everybody in the camp knows we can do better.
“The performance at Kazakhstan was unexpected. We knew the performance wasn’t good enough, but we didn’t dwell on it. We needed to move on to another big game against San Marino.
“We were on a hiding to nothing. We won the match, but we were expected to win it by more. We still heard some boos from the fans at the end. It was a case of them wanting us to score 10 or 20 goals. We were never going to make everybody happy. I think the important thing was we went away with a win - and we did that.”
READ MORE: Billy Dodds: Atmosphere among the Scotland fans was 'toxic'
McNulty added: “We obviously want to please the fans. They come here and they spend their money to support the boys and the boys appreciate their support. They’ve got an opinion and a few of them were not happy at full time, but that’s football and they’re entitled to that. We know how to deal with that and the most important thing was we got the win.
“My dad made it out here for the game. My brother and two mates flew over as well. Like I said, it was just as proud a day for them as it was for me. But I don’t think my dad was cheering. I think he was booing me when I missed those chances. I think I heard him booing! But it was just great to get on the pitch and get a good run out. It was just brilliant to be out there.”
McNulty had a hand in the second Scotland goal – he supplied his fellow replacement James Forrest in the build-up and then left the ball for Johnny Russell after the winger had crossed it into the San Marino goal. However, the 26-year-old felt that he could have done far better up front after replacing Callum Paterson, who went off with an ankle injury, during the first-half and expects he will have to be sharper up in front of goal to get selected in future.
“I could have had a hat-trick, never mind one,” he said. “It was one of those days for myself in front of goal. On another night I could have had three or four. I never took my chances. I need to be more ruthless. But it was just important we got the win.
READ MORE: Aberdeen manager Derek McInnes makes a passionate defence of Graeme Shinnie after Scotland shambles
“It was pleasing (to help Russell score). Of course I thought about taking it myself. I’m a striker. Any chance that come I will try and take it. But it was slightly behind me and I knew Johnny behind me and unselfishly I knew he was in a better position to finish it so I left it, which was the right thing to do.”
Winning his first caps for his country capped a remarkable turnaround for a player who had been frozen out of the first team at English Championship club Reading and was training with the kids.
“It’s brilliant, unbelievable,” he said. “Two months ago I was training in the under-23s with Reading. The new manager (Jose Manuel Gomes) had come in and told me wouldn’t let me train with the first team and told me to find something else. It’s the complete opposite for me now. Playing for your country is the stuff of dreams, isn’t it?
“Football can change very quickly for good and bad. I stayed positive over the rough couple of months when the new manager came in and now I’m buzzing.
“Of course, I’d love to play more for Scotland. If you asked anyone if they wanted to represent their country they would say yes. These last couple of games have been a great experience and has given me the taste for it and I want a little bit more.”
First up, though, is the Edinburgh derby against Hearts at Tynecastle on Saturday week, a game that McNulty knows is looking forward to experiencing. “I’m a local boy and it’s a game I know a lot about,” he said. “It’s the sort of game I came back up to Scotland for. So I am looking forward to it.”
Why are you making commenting on The Herald only available to subscribers?
It should have been a safe space for informed debate, somewhere for readers to discuss issues around the biggest stories of the day, but all too often the below the line comments on most websites have become bogged down by off-topic discussions and abuse.
heraldscotland.com is tackling this problem by allowing only subscribers to comment.
We are doing this to improve the experience for our loyal readers and we believe it will reduce the ability of trolls and troublemakers, who occasionally find their way onto our site, to abuse our journalists and readers. We also hope it will help the comments section fulfil its promise as a part of Scotland's conversation with itself.
We are lucky at The Herald. We are read by an informed, educated readership who can add their knowledge and insights to our stories.
That is invaluable.
We are making the subscriber-only change to support our valued readers, who tell us they don't want the site cluttered up with irrelevant comments, untruths and abuse.
In the past, the journalist’s job was to collect and distribute information to the audience. Technology means that readers can shape a discussion. We look forward to hearing from you on heraldscotland.com
Comments & Moderation
Readers’ comments: You are personally liable for the content of any comments you upload to this website, so please act responsibly. We do not pre-moderate or monitor readers’ comments appearing on our websites, but we do post-moderate in response to complaints we receive or otherwise when a potential problem comes to our attention. You can make a complaint by using the ‘report this post’ link . We may then apply our discretion under the user terms to amend or delete comments.
Post moderation is undertaken full-time 9am-6pm on weekdays, and on a part-time basis outwith those hours.
Read the rules hereLast Updated:
Report this comment Cancel