DON'T tell Matt Ritchie it can't be done. Scotland's qualifying equation for the European Championships might have looked significantly healthier than it does right now if Scotland had taken something in Tbilisi a month ago but then everything is relative. The nation's chances of reaching it's first major finals for 18 years still appear far likelier than Bournemouth's hopes of mixing it with the big boys of the Barclays Premier League ever did back when Ritchie pitched up at the League One side from Swindon Town in return for the princely sum of £400,000 in the January of 2013.

The rest, as they say, is history. Now the Cherries sit are going toe-to-toe with the richest clubs in the world and suffice to say the hard disk on Ritchie's Sky Plus is getting rather crowded keeping track of it all. Whether it was the 1-0 defeat at Anfield to a clearly offside Christian Benteke goal, or the stunning chest control and volley which led to a goal of the season contender at home to Sunderland, Ritchie is compiling quite a personal highlight reel. Making a telling contribution as Scotland overcome Poland, Gibraltar and then a potential play-off tie might just top the lot.

“Obviously things like that [the goal against Sunderland] don’t happen every week, so yeah, I Sky Plussed that one," said Ritchie. "I always believed I could play in the Premier League when I started out with Portsmouth. I worked hard to get back to where the club is now. You have to take it in your stride because you can get quite easily overwhelmed by it all. Otherwise you'd look back and regret not being focused on the game or what you are doing.

“It’s good to go to top stadiums and play top players - but you need to make sure you are focussed and not overwhelmed by the occasion," he added. "It’s the same mindset with Scotland but It’s two completely different aims. International football is a huge stage. To get to the Euros would be unbelievable so we need to make sure we do our jobs on Thursday."

Ritchie has one goal in five caps for the country of his father's birth, but he still feels the Tartan Army have yet to see the best of him and he is probably right. There was a fine goal on his debut against Qatar at Easter Road, a decent showing at home against Gibraltar and an inventive late cameo against the Germans at Hampden but for now he remains somewhat negatively defined by his surprise start against the Republic of Ireland in Dublin, where the team as a whole performed poorly and Ritchie didn't re-emerge after the break. Whatever happens in the next week or so, he praises Gordon Strachan for helping him settle into the Scotland camp and for getting the most out of his players in the limited time he has with them.

“I’d like to have had more of an impact on the games I’ve played," said Ritchie. "But it’s early days and hopefully I’ve got a long international career ahead of me and I can be involved in a lot of games. The best is still to come. Absolutely.

"The manager made a decision to take me off [against the Republic] and I respect that," he added. "The game didn't quite pan out how we thought it might have done. It wasn't a free flowing football that game and sometimes in those situations you just have to dig in and do your work off the ball and I felt like I did that."

Ritchie, of course, shares a dressing room not only with Harry Arter, a member of the Republic of Ireland squad, but a certain Poland goalkeeper. With Arsenal's Wojciech Szczesny around, Artur Boruc is unlikely to start on Thursday but the eccentric former Celtic custodian is a massive part of the Bournemouth squad and the Ritchie would rather not allow him a laugh at his expense when he eventually has to return to the south coast. "He [Boruc] is not shy," said Ritchie. "He is an individual that you have to ease your way around at first but he is a top man and he has been fantastic for us. He is a very good goalkeeper and a massive part of our dressing room."

Of more concern to most visitors to Hampden Park on Thursday night will be Boruc's countryman Robert Lewandowski. The 27-year-old Bayern Munich striker has 12 goals in his last four appearances but he is not the only world class striker Ritchie has come into close contact with this season. "They are not a one-man team," said the 26-year-old, born in Gosport, near Portsmouth. "But like any football match we have to make sure that we can keep their key players out of the game. I am sure we will prepare this week to do that. He [Lewandowski] is playing with good teams and scoring goals. But he is only human, so if we defend well I am sure we will be fine. We can score goals too, as we showed against Germany. If we are at the races we can have an affect on big games." In terms of Scotland's hopes of returning to a major finals for the first time since France '98 they don't come much bigger than Thursday. Don't tell Ritchie it can't be done.