'First wish': Sidelined Scotland stars come back on radar with stoppage-time winners

McBurnie signed for Hull City on a free transfer on August 6 after spending a year in Spain with Las Palmas, who were relegated from La Liga at the end of last season. He scored in the midweek EFL Cup defeat by Wrexham in his first start for the Humberside club and then dazzled in front of his new supporters at the MKM Stadium.

The 29-year-old set up Joe Gelhardt for a second-minute opener and then provided the assist for Matt Crooks’ strike on 20 minutes. He then put the gloss on a fine individual performance when he calmly found the bottom-left corner in second-half stoppage time.

McBurnie agreed a contract with Hull until the summer of 2028 and his manager Sergej Jakirovic highlighted Oli McBurnie’s “experience and quality” after the Tigers built upon their opening-day 0-0 draw at Coventry City.

“That was his second goal in his second game and two assists, I think,” said Jakirovic. “He was from the beginning our first wish (in the transfer window). He was not with us at the first weeks this summer, but he can run and knows the very league very well.

“He is massive for us. He has experience and quality and it’s very promising for us.”

Hull are still awaiting news from an appeal against a transfer embargo, which means they are unable to pay a fee for a player until January 2027. Fellow Scot Kyle Joseph came on as a second-half substitute, while former Rangers man John Lundstram started.

Capped 16 times by Scotland, McBurnie has not featured for the national team since he scored a penalty in the Euro 2020 play-off shoot-out triumph over Serbia four years ago. He missed out on the squad for the tournament and has been exiled ever since.

McBurnie spoke last season of his desire to get back into the Scotland set-up and will hope that his form has caught the eye of national team head coach Steve Clarke, who is expected to name his squad for the September World Cup qualifiers against Denmark and Belarus after next weekend’s fixtures.

Dykes on target late for Birmingham

One striker who also staked his claim for a place in the Scotland squad is Lyndon Dykes, who netted eight minutes into stoppage time for Birmingham City as they came back from a goal down to defeat Blackburn Rovers 2-1 at Ewood Park.

Dykes missed the summer friendlies for Scotland due to injury but has been part of the Blues’ good start to life back in the Championship.