Hibs hopeful 'definitely in mix' for World Cup spot as Scotland coach details training base search

The Hibs striker is one of a number of players on the fringes of Steve Clarke's squad hoping to push themselves into contention for a seat on the plane to the United States next summer.

Naismith, who returned to the Scotland backroom team in August as a replacement for John Carver, has been impressed with the 23-year-old's displays for Hibs this term.

Bowie, who made his Scotland debut in June and has two caps, scored his eighth goal of the season in the 3-2 derby win over Hearts at Easter Road on Saturday.

"He'll definitely be in the mix," Naismith said on The Warm-Up by William Hill. "He's been in a few of the squads in the campaigns but the competition is good.

"His interview after the game was excellent. He was talking about how he had a dip in form, but for me, he's still someone who is immature as a main striker, still trying to find his way to being the main man at Hibs.

"If you look at the level of the squad, the national team is probably the most competitive it has been for a while. Even an Oli McBurnie who is doing brilliant in the Championship now... but to be the main man as a striker is tough.

"He's not young, but he's immature in terms of the amount of games he's played. He played on the left quite a lot when he was at Northampton. So I think he's still finding his feet.

"You're always going to be judged on goals and when you go a few games without scoring people will look at that. But his performances... I think he's different. He's a very good target man, holding off and being awkward for defenders. He is a good finisher, as we seen on Saturday.

"He's got that mindset where he tried one from the halfway line on Saturday. He scored the one in Europe early on where he instinctively turns, sees the opportunity and takes it. So he's got that craft as a forward, it's just the learning. The more he does it, the more he'll learn to do the right thing."

Naismith also revealed that he was part of a Scotland entourage that travelled to the States before Christmas to scope out possible World Cup training bases. Scotland are in Group C and will play Haiti and Morocco in Boston before facing Brazil in Miami.

"It was good," Naismith stated. "Preparation has started. I think the biggest thing in the tournament will be travel. Some of the travelling is going to be quite big but everybody is in the same boat.

"It definitely wasn't a jolly up. The draw happened then you knew the region you were in, but that region is huge no matter where you are. [We were] doing our reccie trying to make sure we get the best base camp.

"There was quite a few areas. 11 or 12 states in the time at different base camps, because that's going to be a massively important part of it. I think with most games you are going to need to fly into the games. We've got two games in Boston, ideally you want to be as close to Boston as you can, but size of area and facilities, you're probably going to be a bit further out."