Barney Stewart: Is Scotland the next step for the ‘highly ambitious’ Falkirk striker?

He has now scored seven goals and two assists since returning from loan with a hat-trick against Hibernian on 24 January.

That’s more than any other player in the Premier League during that period – and more than any other Falkirk player overall despite missing the first half of the season.

While Falkirk failed to pick up the point that would have secured a top-six finish on Saturday thanks to a shock 2-1 defeat at home to St Mirren, Stewart’s opener took his personal tally to five in his last four games – and his goal total to 17 in 27 games this season.

As former Scotland striker Naismith said a few weeks ago on Sportscene: “Everyone is talking about his story – which is great.

“He fought and fought and fought for his chance in the professional game and he took advantage of it.

“The biggest compliment I can give him is that every goal he scores, every time the ball goes wide in the final third, he is inside the penalty area.”

Fellow sporting scene Stephen Kerrigan believes Stewart “will go for big money in the summer transfer window”.

“His all-round game was first class,” the former Motherwell and Northern Ireland midfielder said.

“He is a real hunter, he is only 21 years old and he puts himself between the targets and looks for opportunities.

“The number of goals he scores – he’s always alert. You’re not always in the right place by luck. He has that talent.

“There are probably other people ahead of him, but if you want someone who is raw, who has a goal and you are the Scotland manager, you have to look at him.”

However, Stewart, who grew up in London but has Scottish parents, admits that “I never had the right opportunity in England in terms of the opportunity to turn professional”.

“I looked at players playing professional football and always said I could do it if I was given the right platform or the right opportunity,” he said.

“In Scotland, people were obviously willing to look down the ranks, especially John McGlynn, who was willing to take a bit of a risk to take me on.”

While studying sports science at Heriot-Watt University – a course he intends to finish at some point – Stuart remembers being starred by Hearts’ first-team players, who train in nearby Oriam on the outskirts of Edinburgh.

He added: “I actually have a picture with Lawrence Shankland and people like that.” “I’m a Chelsea fan, but my dad is a big Jumbo fan, so he was like, ‘Make sure you get a selfie with Lawrence’. Now I’m on the same pitch with him, playing against him, it’s surreal.”