Steven Fletcher could be poised to emerge as new striking alternative for Scotland, according to his manager at Hibernian. John Collins believes that Fletcher is capable of earning promotion to Alex McLeish’s squad this season, which could prove a huge incentive if Scotland qualify for the Euro 2008 finals.

The 20-year-old frontman is just one of four Hibernian players in the Scotland Under-21 squad for their own European Championship assignment against Lithuania tomorrow on their own Easter Road pitch. Fletcher attracted huge interest for his performances that helped Scotland to reach the European Under-19 Championship final with Spain in 2006 and the Fifa Under-20 World Cup in Canada last July, and Collins feels the player is now ready to make the next step.

Fletcher has been prolific at club level, with four goals in seven league starts this season, pushing Hibernian into second place in the Clydesdale Bank Premier League. “Steven Fletcher for me is the main man in the current Under-21 side, and a player I expect to be knocking on the door for a full international cap by the end of the season,” Collins told the Hibernian club website.

Playing alongside Fletcher in the Under-21 qualifying tie should be his club colleagues Ross Campbell, Kevin McCann and Lewis Stevenson. Collins claims that McCann, also 20, is the outstanding right-back in the country and even eclipses Alan Hutton, of Rangers, who has burst on to the national team scene this season.

“I’m hoping Kevin will start against Lithuania as I honestly think there is no better right-back in the country at present,” Collins said.

The Scotland Under-21 side is now in the hands of Maurice Malpas, who took over after Archie Knox decided to accept a coaching role at Bolton Wanderers. The Scotland youngsters have won just one point from their

I opening two qualifiers, meaning that victory at Easter Road tomorrow is a must. Perhaps the young players player will find inspiration from the ground that has been a fortress for Hibernian this season.

Collins praised his summer recruits yesterday for living up to the standards set by Scott Brown, Steven Whittaker and Kevin Thomson before the highly-rated youngsters were prised away by Celtic and Rangers for a combined total of £8.5 million.

The manager admitted yesterday that he had taken a gamble in signing players with a little reputation in comparison to their predecessors. Collins has been repaid for giving a stage to players such as Clayton Donaldson, Thierry Gathuessi, Filipe Morais and Mickael Antoine-Curier. The quartet, along with fellow new boys Brian Kerr, Yves MaKalambay, Alan O’Brien and Torben Joneleit, have all played roles in Hibernian’s undefeated league start that culminated in a 1-0 win over Rangers at Ibrox last Saturday.

Collins saw little of the money raised by Hibernian from the sale of their players over the summer and recruited Donaldson from the Conference side, York City, Gathuessi from the French third division side, FC Sete, Antoine-Curier from the Norwegian second division club, FK Haugesunds, and Morais from Millwall.

“We watch players and judge them for ourselves,” Collins said. “We went to see them with our own eyes. Other managers see different things. We saw they had some talent and believed they could fit into our system. There is always a risk. You don’t know how they will adapt to new training methods, a new team, a new league, a new city.

“However, we believed they all had a good work ethic and a good attitude. None of them had played top league football before so this was an opportunity they had been waiting for. There were two ways they could have gone coming here and seeing Tynecastle full, and then playing Celtic and Rangers. They could have been over-awed and drifted away or else they would step up to the challenge.

“They have all done that and beating Hearts, Celtic and now Rangers has given them a huge lift. They believe in themselves. It’s not only the job of the management team to get them fit and organised but to give them the confidence to play with a freedom which was perhaps stifled wherever they were in the past.”