Boyd: Scotland place not mine yet
Kris Boyd admits he has a long way to go before he can consider himself a proper Scotland international again.
The Kilmarnock striker ended a three-year absence from the national set-up when he was drafted into Gordon Strachan's squad last weekend.
Boyd - who has scored seven goals in 18 appearances for the Scots - was then named as an unused substitute for Tuesday's friendly against Norway.
He says his aim now is to become a regular pick again for future squads.
Boyd said: "It was great to be back involved in the set-up but I'm not going to stand here and call myself an international player again.
"You're an international player if you're getting named in all the squads the gaffer names.
"For me, it's about continuing the form I've shown since the beginning of the season and improving that from now until the end of season.
"Hopefully I can get myself back involved in the next squad and back into the original squads.
"It's a giant step from where I was on Sunday morning to Sunday night to be called back up again.
"I'm delighted but I know I've got a long, long way to go before I can call myself an international player again.
"I've been there, I've done it, I've scored goals at that level.
"I want to get myself back to scoring goals at that level and I won't stop until I've done that."
In the meantime, Boyd wants to see Kilmarnock made amends for what he branded their worst display of the season against St Johnstone - a 3-1 loss - with a win against Motherwell this weekend.
He said: "We've not had a game for two weeks and we were disappointed after the performance in the last game.
"It's a good chance for us, a good game, and we are at home.
"We know what Motherwell are going to bring but it's up to us as a team to go out there and put in a performance that gets us three points.
"A lot of the performances at the beginning of the season maybe merited picking up points and then we won two games. But the St Johnstone game was probably the worst performance of the season.
"We got what we deserved, which was nothing. As players, the challenge is on us now to get ourselves back to winning ways."
Kilmarnock will be without suspended duo Darren Barr and Jackson Irvine after the pair were both shown red cards during the defeat to St Johnstone.
David Silva and Ismael Bouzid remain on the sidelines ahead of the match at Rugby Park.
Motherwell manager Stuart McCall has warned his team to cut out the concession of soft goals as they prepare to face in-form Kilmarnock striker Boyd.
Motherwell have lost three of their last four games, shipping eight goals in the process, and come up against a player at Rugby Park who has netted six goals in 12 Scottish Premiership games.
That form saw the former Rangers striker recalled to the Scotland squad for Tuesday's friendly in Norway, and although Boyd did not feature in the 1-0 win, McCall saw enough of him in training to note his ongoing threat.
McCall, one of Gordon Strachan's assistant coaches, told Press Association Sport: "I tried to get him to do 18-yard box to 18-yard box after the game in Norway but he wasn't having that. I thought it might tighten his hamstring up because it was a cold night.
"I thought Gordon might put him on for 10 minutes and he might get a kick but it didn't work. I tried to get him a cap, what more can I do?
"But, listen, I know he is a proven goalscorer. When they came here he had a couple of efforts that just went wide. He certainly gets his shots off.
"The two goals he got recently against Hearts, all right they might be poor bits of defending, but he has taken both goals extremely well.
"And when he came and joined up on Monday for Scotland, his first touch went in the back of the net.
"You don't lose a knack of goalscoring that he has got, so obviously we need to look to keep him quiet."
Motherwell lost 4-0 at home to Dundee United in their last outing and although centre-back Shaun Hutchinson is back from suspension, full-backs Simon Ramsden and Steven Hammell are struggling to return from injury.
McCall said: "We all know that the last few games we have under-performed and we need to get back, not only to winning ways but to playing well.
"We have certainly not created enough and scored as many as we were, and we are conceding too many soft goals.
"We are not getting ripped open by teams but we are giving away soft goals. It's about concentration, communication and organisation and we have got to defend better as a group.
"We have managed to win a few games 1-0, so when we defend properly we do it well."
McCall added: "I've got full belief in the squad we have got. Individuals know, the ones that started well have maybe just dipped a little bit. Ones who haven't got going need to find form.
"But everyone is working hard. If things aren't coming off for you, the least you need to be doing is giving everything you have got. We have got talented players, we just need to find a bit of form."
Source: PA
