CHRIS Maxwell, the Hibernian goalkeeper who ensured the capital club clinched a Betfred Cup semi-final place with a save in a penalty shoot-out against Kilmarnock on Wednesday night, has left the door open for a switch from Wales to Scotland, writes Matthew Lindsay.
Maxwell denied Niko Hamalainen, the on-loan Queens Park Rangers defender, at Rugby Park after the last eight match between the Ladbrokes Premiership rivals had finished 0-0 at the end of extra-time.
The former Wrexham player, who has displaced Ofir Marciano as the first choice Easter Road keeper in recent weeks, has been capped at age-group level for his country and been a member of the senior squad on a number of occasions.
However, the 29-year-old has relations from this country and is, having not played in a competitive match for Wales at full international level before, eligible to don the dark blue of Scotland should he so desire. He is ruling nothing out.
“I was born in Wales and my Mum’s side are all from the Wrexham area,” he said. “I’ve played for Wales all the way through the age groups and up until about March this year I was involved with the Wales set-up.
“But my dad Ian, indeed the whole family, are from the Bathgate area and Falkirk. We’ve also got a few others who live near Livingston.You never know, if Scotland came calling and that opportunity came around then it’s something to think about.
“There’s no decision to be made yet and first and foremost I have to be playing for Hibs. But, you never know, you play well at club level then international possibilities, call-ups and caps, can become a bonus.
“I’ve just got to perform here week in week out. That’s the priority. Anything else would be great. I need to keep doing what I’m doing, keep listening to Alan Combe (Hibs goalkeeping coach), and you never know.”
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 here