HIBS hitman Anthony Stokes insisted today that no-one deserves their international call-up more than strike partner Derek Riordan – and reckons George Burley will find it hard to leave him out in future.
The former Celtic striker is in Japan with the rest of the Scotland squad for this weekend's friendly with Japan in Yokohama after a four-year absence from the international scene. Stokes may only have played a handful of games alongside Riordan
but has already seen enough in that time to know that the 26-year-old will prove to be a valuable addition to Burley's pool of players.
Former Falkirk frontman Stokes revealed that Riordan has played a major part in helping him to settle into his new surroundings at Easter Road – on the pitch and off it – and is delighted to see his team-mate getting the recognition he deserves.
He said: "I think that it's well deserved when you look at the way that he has been playing and scoring goals.
"To be honest, everyone would have been surprised if he hadn't been included in the squad.
"Everyone wants to see him doing well and hopefully putting down the marker for the rest of the international games that are to come over the next year or so.
"He is easy to play alongside – he makes good runs, gets into good positions and can see a pass as well.
"All in all he has helped make it pretty easy to play in the same side as him."
Stokes and the rest of his team-mates who are not on international duty this week will make the most of a few days' break from training and the Irishman will take the opportunity to head home to see family and friends in Dublin.
However, Riordan's call-up, combined with the fact that a number of his team-mates now regularly feature for their countries has left Stokes with a few ambitions of his own on that front.
Admitting that he would love to be involved with the Republic of Ireland, he continued: "I usually try to get home during the international breaks, which is great because I don't get the chance very often.
"But I'd love a chance with Ireland as well, it would be great to be part of that set-up but all I can do is keep working hard and wait and see what happens over the next couple of weeks.
"At the moment I'm just looking forward to a few days off and then focusing on helping Hibs to get the right results. It is good for all of the lads to be involved with their country and obviously when you get the chance, you want to play at the highest level that you can, as often as you can.
"As I said, though, all I am concentrating on right now is doing well for my club and if I can keep doing that then who knows what will happen."
Stokes feels that he has now found his feet at Hibs, having taken a few matches to return to peak fitness and match sharpness.
He already has three goals to his name since joining Hibs – one in the League Cup and two in the SPL – and is keen to add more throughout the course of the rest of the season.
He continued: "I think it took a few games for me to settle into the side and in terms of finding my fitness and match sharpness again.
"I'm happy enough with the way that I played against Dundee United the other day, and I've got a couple of goals under my belt so hopefully I can keep it going in that direction.
"Obviously I'd love a few more goals to my name, I suppose every striker would say that, but I am sure that they will come over the next few weeks.
"I just want to play week-in, week-out and be helping the team out in any way that I can. Everyone has targets and ambitions and obviously I want to be hitting the back of the net on a regular basis but the most important thing for me right now is that the team is doing well and getting the right results."
Scotland's friendly match may mean that the SPL takes a break this weekend but Stokes is hoping that his side can simply continue where they left off when the domestic action gets underway again next Saturday.
Hibs welcome Kilmarnock at Easter Road and will go into the match sitting in third place in the SPL table, behind Celtic and Rangers.
Stokes believes that they can maintain that position in the long term, thanks to the mixture of youth and experience that manager John Hughes has in his side at the moment.
"There is a good balance running through the team because we have got a good mixture of youth and experience and obviously the gaffer has been great for everyone as well," he said.
"We have had some good results of late but I think that the break has maybe come at a good time for us.
"If we'd been on a losing streak then we would have been desperate for a chance to bounce back straight away instead of having two weeks to wait.
"We're just happy with the position that we have got ourselves into in the league table right now and obviously we hope that we can go back after the international break and continue where we left off.
"I think that going forward we have got a lot of options up front and that can only be good for the team as a whole.
"The manager has got a lot of options and over the last couple of weeks I think that the fans will have seen we've all really started to gel. It took us probably the first four or five games of the season for everyone to really settle in and get used to playing alongside one another, but hopefully now we are over that.
"There's a good balance at the moment in the midfield because there's a good workrate and attacking-wise, I think that we are doing well."
