Accies player called up for Scotland's B squad

May 7 2009 by Andrew McGilvray, Hamilton Advertiser

SATURDAY’S win over Kilmarnock capped an excellent week for Brian Easton, who was called up for Scotland’s B squad for a friendly against Northern Ireland last night (Wednesday).

But although he’s taken a step closer to a full international debut and did his stock no harm with another solid performance on Saturday, Easton insists he’s only concerned about Hamilton staying in the SPL.

And he hopes Accies can secure their survival with a win over Inverness on Sunday.

He said: “With four games to go and us on 37 points you would like to think we’ve probably done enough to stay up as it is, but we don’t want to leave it up to that.

“Over the next couple of games, we want to try to get as many points as we can and hopefully we’ll be all right.

“Depending on how other results go, I think a win up at Inverness on Sunday could see us safe but it’s not going to be easy up there.

“We would have preferred the two teams who were below us to get dragged down with their results on Saturday but we’re in eighth place and the teams below us still have to play each other so it’s in our own hands and hopefully we won’t throw it away.”

He added: “The win on Saturday was massive. Any points we can pick up between now and the end of the season will be vital.

“It was hard work. It wasn’t the prettiest of games and we had to dig in deep and fight to get the three points.

“With it being so close to the end of the season we were very cautious and just wanted to protect the lead. We knuckled down and ground out the result.”

Brian admitted his inclusion in the Scotland B squad was unexpected.

He said: “It came out of the blue because I didn’t even know there was a game coming up!

“The gaffer, Billy Reid, phoned me about a week ago to tell me. It was good news and I was really pleased.”

Easton has been linked to both sides of the Old Firm in Scotland and Derby County down south, but says he won’t worry about his future until after Hamilton are safe.

He said: “I’m under contract here until 2011 so if any other club want to come in for me they have to make a bid that Hamilton are happy with and then I’ll need to sit down and take a look at it, but I’m not too worried about it just now. I want to get the season over with and help Hamilton survive in the SPL and then I’ll take it from there.”