Finlay Pollock scored his fifth goal in his last nine Raith Rovers games as he helped secure Fife derby glory over Dunfermline.
Pollock was hailed as ‘absolutely fantastic’ by Raith fans after yet another starring show with a double in a 3-0 win over promotion play-off rivals Partick Thistle.
That came after former Hearts sporting director Joe Savage labelled him as an even better prospect than James Wilson, currently playing regularly and scoring for the first team, and just been called up by Scotland for the full squad.
Pollock is on loan at the Championship side from the Jambos and it has been going according to plan as he looks a real threat with his pace and trickery, scoring six goals so far.
He has become a key man under Barry Robson and as even been moved forward to play as an attacker since the former Aberdeen boss’ appointment.
And Pollock’s form was recently rewarded with a call-up to the Scotland under-21s squad.
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Raith Rovers reach Scotland agreement over Finlay Pollock
Capped so far only for the under-19s, the 20-year-old was brought in by Scott Gemmill for friendly games against Republic of Ireland and Iceland.
But the game against the Irish is on Friday night which clashes with Rovers’ crunch meeting with Partick Thistle, who they are battling against to book a slot in the play-offs.
Keen to keep the exciting youngster around for that one, Raith have reached an agreement with Scotland for him to miss the first international game and then join up with the 21s.
That means Robson will have to do without Pollock for a game against Greenock Morton on Tuesday.
Speaking after that win over the Pars, the youngster said: “I’m actually going to stay here and play in that Partick game. And then I’ll fly out on Saturday after the Friday night game.
“The gaffer’s spoken to me. They really wanted me to stay for the game, so I’ve taken that decision that I will stay.
“I will stay here and play in that Partick game and then fly out after that.
“So, I’ll miss the Morton game for us and I’ll miss the Ireland one [for Scotland], and I’ll play in the Iceland one.
“It was brilliant to get the call-up. I’m really buzzing to be asked to go to the 21s. I’ve been there and done the U/19s before and I really enjoyed myself.
“It’s hopefully the first of many camps. So, I’ll need to go to the Scotland 21s and prove myself and prove to the coaches that I’m good enough to hopefully be selected again for the qualifiers that will be coming up.”
Pollock on Raith progress
Pollock hadn’t done a pre-season with Hearts as he continued to be affected by niggling injuries.
So he admits it took time a little bit of time to get up to speed after making the loan switch.
“I missed pre-season at the start with Hearts,” he added. “So I was sort of playing catch-up again a little bit.
“I played a couple of games with the B team at Hearts and then thought I had to come out and challenge myself a bit more.
“I had a slower start here, but the new manager’s then come in and obviously switched my position and I’m really enjoying it.
“Hopefully I can just keep going, and keep continuing to get as many goals as I can from now to the end of the season.”