JACK Hamilton will not take his slot in the Hearts squad for granted, never mind his international place.
The 22-year-old goalkeeper was this week named in his third consecutive Scotland squad, for the World Cup qualifiers against Lithuania and Slovakia.
But Hamilton has only been Hearts' number one for a couple of months and will not get ahead of himself after receiving his latest call-up from Gordon Strachan.
"It came as a surprise again and it's a real honour to be back in the squad," he said.
"It's massive for a young goalie as it's a great opportunity to go away and learn from the people in front of you and be in that environment.
"That's where you want to be in football. Every footballer wants to be involved in those squads but first my main aim is to be there in the Hearts squad.
"I need to stay in this squad to help me get in the Scotland squad."
Hamilton and his Hearts team-mates head for Motherwell on Friday night looking for a first goal in three matches.
Hearts strikers Tony Watt, Conor Sammon, Robbie Muirhead and Bjorn Johnsen have only managed three strikes between them this season.
However, Hamilton has seen enough in training to convince him it will not be long before they start finding the target regularly in matches.
"They are fantastic players and there are days when they are pinging balls past me for fun," he said.
"It's not really anything to worry about just because we haven't scored in the last two games.
"We took five off Inverness, we've got players who can score, so we just need to keep faith in them."
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