Scotland defender Charlie Mulgrew hopes to be in contention for Saturday’s crucial Euro 2016 qualifier against Republic of Ireland, after completing his first match in more than six months in Friday’s 1-0 friendly win against Qatar.
The former Aberdeen player has recovered from a knee injury which had sidelined him since December, making two substitute appearances for the Hoops prior to the end of the Premiership campaign.
Scotland manager Gordon Strachan gave Mulgrew his first start since November in Friday’s match at Easter Road and the player hopes he has done enough to force his way into the side for Saturday’s match in Dublin.
Mulgrew said: “It was my first 90 minutes in a while, so I was delighted to get that under my belt. It was all the better for the result.
“I’m ready for Saturday. As people could see on Friday night, everybody is competing for a place and that brings the best out of everybody. There’s a lot of competition, but we’re all up for it.
“We all know there are players chasing every position and everybody wants to play a part in big matches.
“I wanted to be back a lot earlier than this. As it got closer I realised this match was probably going to be the one I’d get back for – and I was desperate to get back for it.
“I was keen to be involved at the end of the season for Celtic as well, and I managed to make a couple of appearances.”
Scotland are two points ahead of Ireland in third place in Group D, having defeated Martin O’Neill’s men 1-0 in the last meeting between the sides at Parkhead in November.
Mulgrew was named man of the match that night, in one of his final games before his long injury lay-off, but the 29-year-old knows the previous game counts for nothing ahead of Saturday’s encounter at Aviva Stadium.
Mulgrew added: “The Ireland game was massive. I enjoyed that night, we played well and got a huge result and I thought I played well.
“It was my best performance for Scotland. As a team we competed well in difficult circumstances in a big match, and came out on top.
“But that counts for nothing on Saturday. We start again, and we need to be up for it.”