SCOTLAND boss Sebastien Pocognoli is confident Ben Gannon-Doak is ready to hit new heights with the national team after a good run of form at club level.

Gannon-Doak had been one of the players about whom Pocognoli expressed concerns over a lack of game time heading into the last international window.

But the 20-year-old winger has been getting more game time for Bournemouth over recent weeks, particularly in their Europa League campaign.

Gannon-Doak was man of the match a couple of weeks ago as Bournemouth battered AC Milan 3-0, an outstanding performance which caught Pocognoli’s eye.

Now heading into the final two Nations League fixtures against North Macedonia and Switzerland, the Scotland boss already views Gannon-Doak as a much-improved player.

‘Ben’s intensity is totally different from when he arrived in the camp in La Manga (at the start of the last window),’ he said.

‘You saw his press against AC Milan or in the other Europa League games, it’s totally different fitness now.

‘I am very happy with him and I believe that if we are playing good football it doesn’t matter the shape, he’s in the best position.

‘He’s a young lad, twenty years old, so he needs confidence and to feel the love. He’s a top player and top players want to improve every day.

‘I like his mentality, it’s exciting to see it but what’s the most exciting is that he’s still to improve on many aspects of the game.

‘If he can improve on being more clinical in front of goal he would probably have scored two goals in the last camp.

‘His assists and crossing is more with the idea before like: “If I put a cross in, Scott McTominay will make a bicycle kick”.

‘But you see a little bit more of him thinking what the next action is when he’s dribbling. When he’s more efficient I think he will be a different level. But he’s only 20 years old so it’s quite exciting.’

Pocognoli had previously indicated that some players would struggle to be part of his squad moving forward unless they were playing regularly for their club sides.

A £25million signing at Bournemouth after leaving Liverpool, Gannon-Doak was chief among those players given that he had struggled to establish himself.

‘I said to the lads when they arrived in September there were a lot of players with a lack of minutes,’ continued Pocognoli.

‘I said that when European football arrives they’ll probably share it. I’m sure the camp we had allowed a lot of players to go back to their clubs to bounce.

‘If you compare it to the first camp, there are maybe only two or three players who have been playing less minutes but the rest have continued.

‘So I think the camp helped them build the confidence and get some minutes.’

Pocognoli will be looking to bounce back from the disappointment of the defeat to Slovenia at the end of the last camp which punctured a lot of the optimism around the national team.

Scott McTominay will now be back among the key players after he missed out last time around due to the fact he was recovering from a heart procedure.

On the chance to work with the Napoli midfielder, Pocognoli said: ‘I have a very good impression of him.

‘I can imagine the fans are really excited to see him back, it has been a long time since the World Cup. If I was him I’d be really excited.

‘We will try to have a game plan so he can shine and not be too dependent on what he can produce from an individual action.

‘I am really excited to see if it can work and what he can bring to the way we want to play.

‘It’s exciting. He missed the first camp but I was in contact with him.

‘He’s excited to start a new book and try to push the level higher, to be successful for the next tournament.

‘I think we can try to play like we showed in some moments in the last camp and I believe we can produce this in the long-term.

‘It would be a massive boost for maybe the way we can play in the future.

‘I hope we can be successful, maybe it will not but I believe we have all the qualities to do it, honestly.’