There was collective and individual catharsis from Scotland’s 3-0 win over Ukraine on Wednesday night and perhaps no player deserved the chance to put things right more than Aaron Hickey. The 20-year-old defender made his first Scotland start in the 3-1 play-off defeat in June, yet, like the rest of Steve Clarke’s side, looked far more assured second time round.
Hickey did not start this time, but came on after 25 minutes for Nathan Patterson, already a Tartan Army favourite. Yet his performance meant that Scotland did not suffer a drop in quality after the Everton’s man departure with a knee injury. Hickey looked secure defensively and also supported attacks intelligently.
It helped that he’s mostly played the same position so far this season for Brentford, after a £15 million summer move there from Bologna. “I have been playing right back and I am getting used to it more,” he agreed. “If the manager wants to play me there, then I’m happy to do that, I’ll play anywhere he wants. Playing in Serie A helped me with my confidence stepping into the national team. I just wanted to come in and show people what I could do and hopefully I’ve done that recently.
“Playing in the English Premier League every week, against some of the best players in the world, can only help me develop as well. It’s really intense down there, but I’m enjoying it. The [Brentford] manager, Thomas Frank, is really good. Before I went there, I knew he was a smart guy, as I had spoken to a few people about him. Since going there, he’s shown that and I am enjoying working under him.”
Eight of Scotland’s starting line-up against Ukraine play for Premier League clubs and Hickey says that’s a sign of the strength of Clarke’s squad. “We have a strong team right now and I feel we can be successful going forward. We have a few big-name players and plenty of boys who are playing at the highest level, but we work really well as a team and you can tell the boys enjoy it.”
He subdued the much-vaunted Mykhaylo Mudryk, the 21-year-old Shakhtar Donetsk winger attracting attention from Arsenal, Everton and Liverpool, and may have to do so again in Krakow on Tuesday, when the countries face each other for the second time in seven days. “In the game in June he came on late on and I remember thinking how fast he was. I knew I had to stop the space for him to run into. As a team, we didn’t let them play and pressed them really well and that’s something we are going to have to do again on Tuesday. It can be tough to come on so early in a game, but you just have to do the best you can and be confident.”
Hickey skipped the traditional apprenticeship with Scotland Under-21 to go straight into the senior squad. That was controversial and many supporters are therefore sceptical about whether his priority is his club career, but Clarke has evidently decided he’s too talented to ignore, despite competition at left back including Andy Robertson, Kieran Tierney and Greg Taylor and the emergence of Patterson and Anthony Ralston at right back.
“We have two brilliant left backs, then Nathan’s done really well at Everton. I don’t see it that we are rivals. We are mates and we speak to each other quite a lot. We push each other on, of course we do, we both want to play, but we all want Scotland to be successful.”
Where Hickey scores over the others is that he seems more comfortable on either foot or flank than them. “If we play a back four, I prefer right back, but if we play a five I like being on the left of it. I can still do a job on the right, though, as well. I don’t really mind where I play, I’ll go where the manager wants.”
