TOM Cairney has been inspired to push for a place in the Scotland squad after seeing Blackburn Rovers team-mates Grant Hanley and Jordan Rhodes taking on England at Wembley last week.

Cairney has impressed since joining Rovers on a six-month loan from Hull and is set to make his home debut for the club against Barnsley tomorrow.

The 22-year-old was in the same Scotland under 21 team as Hanley and Rhodes but is yet to be called up at senior level.

And, having watched his Rovers team-mates lining up in front of an 80,000 crowd at Wembley last week, he wants to impress Scotland boss Gordon Strachan in the next few months and force his way into contention.

“It would have been great to be a part of,” Cairney said.

“Grant and Jordan were part of it and I spoke to them and they said it was the best thing they’ve ever been involved in – the atmosphere, the build-up, England-Scotland, Braveheart and all that stuff. It sounded incredible.

“If I do well at club level, I know it’s in the future but that would be a good goal for me.

“I played in the Scotland under 21s with Jordan and Grant, and we had quite a successful team.

“So if I have a good season here, you never know what can happen.”

Cairney has already said he is open to remaining at Rovers for the full season if things go well.

He has added creativity to the Rovers midfield in his first two starts for the club and his full debut was certainly an eventful one.

Cairney scored one goal and set up another in the League Cup defeat at Carlisle, but was then sent off for a second yellow card.

“Performance wise I was very happy, I thought I had a good game, I scored and got an assist,” he said.

“Getting a red card put a big downer on it but that’s football and it happens.

“I’ve felt like I had a good pre-season. Hopefully I can kick on now.”

Rovers will be seeking their first win of the season against Barnsley, and Cairney believes last week’s defeat to Doncaster will spark a reaction.

“When we came back in after the defeat you could tell people were upset and wanted to put it right, and that starts on Saturday,” he said.

“The sooner we can get the first win the better, I think it will settle the whole place down.

“We have got a lot of new players and some young players.

“I think it will take us some time to gel and when that does happen I can see us climbing up the league.

“Barnsley are very hard working but I feel like if we’re on our game we should have too much and come out with three points.”