ACTIONS speak louder than words. You may doubt that Oli McBurnie is a £20m striker. You may even doubt that he is good enough to lead the line for Scotland. But anyone who witnessed the shift he put in for his country against Russia last night would never for a moment doubt his dedication to the cause.
The Sheffield United forward’s stomach must have been birling in the Hampden tunnel as he awaited his reception from the Tartan Army, after his monumentally ill-judged words in the Bramall Lane tunnel a few days prior to meeting up with his national teammates made him the subject of much social media ire.
As is often the case though, the real world bore little resemblance to the online world, and he was warmly received by the home crowd.
Their appreciation grew louder as he tore into some early aerial challenges, giving no quarter and asking for none in return. And Hampden roared as he played a major part in the opener.
The lion’s share of the credit goes to Ryan Fraser, whose whipped delivery was attacked at the near post by McBurnie, the forward doing enough to put goalkeeper Guilherme off and see the ball squirm from his grasp to the grateful John McGinn to sweep home.
Unfortunately for Scotland, and for McBurnie, that was simply a forerunner to a long evening ahead.
He kept fighting for scraps and battling his corner, but as his teammates retreated to protect what they had, so the balls to the increasingly lonely-looking frontman got longer and his task got all the more arduous.
His chances of winning the Hail Mary’s shelled in his direction was minimal to say the least, and even when did, there was nary a dark blue jersey in sight to feed off the knock-downs and flick-ons that he was managing to eek out of the towering Georgi Dzhikiya and Andrei Semenov at the back for the Russians.
All he could do was watch on forlornly from the frontline as those behind him were torn asunder by the step up in tempo as the visitors pounded and pounded on the door until the roof caved in not once, but twice either side of the break.
As the rebuilding job got underway, you would be hard-pushed to describe McBurnie as the architect of any threatened revival, but he showed he was happy to continue being a willing labourer.
When the board went up to signal Scotland’s third and final substitute and the number wasn’t McBurnie’s, he probably winced at the thought of dragging his body through another 15 minutes, but he kept gamely at it and almost got a sniff or two as Guilherme had another couple of dodgy moments.
Alas, he wouldn’t break his duck for his country, but while many may still doubt whether he has the ability for the top level, no one can now question his commitment to Scotland. And he shouldn't now be the butt of the jokes.
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