Four contenders in running for International Player of the Year prize

The Scottish Football Writers’ Association have revealed their shortlist for the coveted International Player of the Year prize after another encouraging campaign for Steve Clarke’s side.

Scotland sit top of their European Championships qualification section after following up the win over Cyprus with the stunning success against Spain this week.

And the man that netted four times in those two Hampden wins - Manchester United midfielder Scott McTominay - is one of the names on the shortlist to land our prize.

The 26-year-old is joined by fellow Premier League stars Kieran Tierney and John McGinn and Celtic captain Callum McGregor on the four-man list for the William Hill Men’s International Player of the Year award.

McGinn landed the title for the third year on the spin 12 months ago as he fended off stiff competition from Tierney, Lyndon Dykes, Billy Gilmour and Craig Gordon.

Now he faces competition from three integral members of Clarke’s squad that have helped Scotland recover from the setback of missing out on a place at the World Cup last winter.

Four points from two Nations League meetings with Ukraine and a win over the Republic of Ireland saw Scotland earn promotion to League A in September.

That achievement was followed by a narrow friendly defeat to Turkey but the win over Cyprus - as McGinn opened the scoring and McTominay scored twice late on - proved to be the perfect warm-up for the visit of Spain.

McTominay was the hero for the Tartan Army as he netted in either half to round off the international season in some style but McGinn, Tierney and McGregor all hold strong claims after a series of consistent performances in recent months.

The Scottish Football Writers will announce the shortlists for their remaining awards in the coming weeks ahead of the dinner on Sunday, May 28.