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RSSHNT: I'm only thinking of Hearts - Stewart
Michael Stewart today admitted his focus is on Hearts - not Scotland - as the Jambos prepare for one final shot at making the top six on Saturday.
The midfielder, who was last capped nearly six years ago against South Africa in the Reunification Cup, has spent this week preparing with Hearts team-mates not involved in international football ahead of a must-win game against Dundee United on Saturday.
The match, which will be played in front of a sell-out crowd with barely 200 tickets remaining, affords Hearts a very final chance to make it to the top half of the table for the final five games of the season.
Where Hearts finish up is now out of the Tynecastle side's hands, after Falkirk's scoreless draw in Edinburgh on Saturday, but that's not of concern to Michael has he and Hearts prepare for one last Herculean effort.
"It was obviously bitterly disappointing," he told Hearts.TV when asked about the 0-0 draw with the Bairns.
"Not only the result, but the performance. There was a lot of aspects that were not right. All the lads can do is look to the next game and not ponder on it.
"From my point of view I was bitterly disappointed with my performance in the first half especially although things got a bit better in the second half.
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"From a personal and team perspective we cannot ponder on it too long and we have to look to next week.
"It may well be out of our hands but all we can do is worry about ourselves. Unfortunately if we win our two games we could possibly not get in to the top six but all we can do is try to win those two games and hopefully get a favour from somebody."
Craig Levein's side have defeated Hearts in both of this season's previous encounters - comprehensively so - but revenge is not in Michael's mind: only the desperate need for a victory.
"Regardless of whether they have beaten us or not it is a big game," he said. "We need to win it.
"Sometimes you can get a little bit hung up on getting revenge and lose focus on what we need to do. It is a game we are more than capable of winning. We need to look to pick up all three points."
With Christophe Berra set to feature for Scotland at some stage this evening when they take on Croatia at Hampden Park, Michael admitted he does think about the prospect of pulling on the dark blue shirt once more.
"I think everybody does," he said. "It is not something that lingers in the mind for long.
"It is obviously something that everybody wants to achieve but it is not something I worry about. If it happens it happens."
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