THREE goals against Gibraltar do not, suddenly, make you the new Denis Law.

 

Achieving something that was beyond the abilities of the great Kenny Dalglish and managing a hat-trick for Scotland does not mean you are now destined to rack up more than a century of caps and take your scoring tally to the 30 mark.

Those within the Scotland camp can say all they like about Steven Fletcher possessing a poacher's instinct alongside the undoubted intelligence and technique in his play, but he has to show it far more often for club and country before it can be taken as gospel.

Seven goals in two seasons for Sunderland and one in 19 outings in dark blue prior to the arrival of UEFA's newest members at the National Stadium are statistics that tell their own story.

For all that, Ikechi Anya is more than happy to keep laying on the chances for him. The Watford midfielder has become an integral component of the system implemented by the national coach, Gordon Strachan, with the drive he provides up the left side.

He is much more a maker of opportunities than a taker, though, and knows the type of person he wants on the end of his crosses. He insists he has seen enough of Fletcher behind the scenes to remain confident that he fits the bill.

The former Hibernian striker has just become the first Scotland player since Colin Stein bagged four against Cyprus in May 1969 to score a hat-trick.

Anya believes it will not be his last. He senses the floodgates may be about to open now that Fletcher has broken a six-year duck that dated back to a World Cup qualifying win over Iceland in April 2009.

"He is one of the best finishers we've got," said the 27-year-old. "We see it in training and there will be plenty more goals from him.

"A lot of people say that he hasn't scored as many goals as he should have, but the job he does for the team is about more than that anyway.

"He brings other players into the game and it is thanks to him that other players can score. He has been brilliant for us.

"I am delighted for him getting the three goals against Gibraltar.

"Even though he hadn't been scoring, he was still playing with plenty of confidence.

"I have heard he was the first Scotland player to score a hat-trick since the 1960s or something, so I hope he can now go on and get a lot more of them in the future for us."

If Fletcher could get back on the scoresheet in the five remaining fixtures of Scotland's Euro 2016 campaign, it would help greatly. Whether the goals flow freely or not, though, he will have a central part to play in what lies ahead.

Strachan's refusal to give Jordan Rhodes a start against Gibraltar suggests the Blackburn Rovers centre-forward will not be propelled into the line-up for this hugely important visit to Dublin to meet the Republic of Ireland in June.

Fletcher is the man to spearhead our attack. Strachan termed his play last week as "elegant", a most appropriate description, and it seems clear there is no-one within his squad as adept at holding up the ball, an important quality in matches that will involve spells of being under the cosh, and introducing the three attack-minded players stationed just behind him into the game.

Anya is one of those. For a fellow whose career has been spent outwith the top leagues, the prospect of reaching a major finals truly is the stuff of fairytales, but he places great emphasis on the importance of remaining in the present.

"We have achieved nothing yet," he said. "The Ireland game is massive now. In international football, the next game is always the biggest.

"The Germany game was the biggest I'd played in, then the Poland one and, now, it will be the Ireland one in June.

"We need to approach it with the same levels of concentration we have shown from the start."

Anya certainly made a positive contribution to Sunday's 6-1 win over Gibraltar. It was his speculative cross that led to Fletcher's opening goal and he must take great credit for setting up Stevie Naismith for Scotland's fourth with an intelligent cutback.

He accepts a degree of blame, however, for the goal that sent waves of panic across the nation, Gibraltar's first in competitive international football and one which tied the scorelines at 1-1 with 20 minutes played.

Anya simply did not do well enough in tracking the run of Lee Casciaro ahead of his low shot past David Marshall. Scotland, as a collective unit, though, seemed confused by a tactical set-up approaching 1-4-4-1.

"We were maybe a little too open early on," confessed Anya. "If you look at the goal they scored, their player maybe turned Andy Robertson a little too easily and he got behind me.

"We were left open at the goal, but we learned our lesson from that and it didn't happen again."