John McGinn delighted to register first career hat-trick for Scotland
John McGinn was bursting with pride after he scored his first career hat-trick in Scotland's emphatic 6-0 victory over San Marino on Sunday night.
The Aston Villa midfielder netted all three of his goals in the first half as Steve Clarke's side ended their four-game losing streak in style against Group I's basement club.
Lawrence Shankland, who was making his first Scotland start, increased their lead 20 minutes into the second half before debutant Stuart Findlay and substitute Stuart Armstrong added gloss to the scoreline.
But the game was already out of San Marino's reach at the break thanks to McGinn's treble, and he was delighted to achieve the milestone in a Scotland shirt.
After the game, he said: “I've never scored a hat-trick at any level, I don't even think at any age, so to do it tonight in a Scotland jersey is an amazing night for me, I'm proud.
“But the main thing was to get the result and get a convincing one and we did, so I'm delighted.
“It's right up there, I'm beaming. I didn't think I'd ever score a hat-trick so to have one in a Scotland jersey is just amazing and I'm absolutely buzzing.”
McGinn's first goal came in the 12th minute when he got the slightest of touches on Ryan Christie's shot.
When asked if he definitely made contact with the ball, the former Hibernian man said: “Definitely! I've seen him go to shoot so I'm saying it's going wide if I don't touch it.”
The comprehensive win was a much-needed fillip for Scotland following Thursday's 4-0 hammering in Russia.
McGinn admitted the squad had been struggling in the aftermath of the defeat and was pleased to get back to winning ways.
He added: “It was a confidence-booster because we're hurting. We're the same as the supporters that travel, make an effort to come.
“We hurt when we don't win, everyone does. We're all craving the international tournament that we've missed for so long so with that comes desperation and we feel it as well, we hurt.
“So it was important tonight to get Thursday out of our systems and try and make it right. It doesn't make it right but it helped in a way.
“When you have a result like Thursday it's never easy. Everyone wants to be successful at any level but for your country it's just as important, if not more so.
“Tonight was all about trying to get our confidence back, get our rhythm going and we managed to do that tonight.
“It was probably as low as I've felt in a Scotland camp over the past couple of days, just because we're hurting, we want to succeed with Scotland, we want to do well.
“So it was important tonight to send the 20,000 fans home happy. Full credit to them, it was a horrible night and there was not a lot to play for in terms of the group so credit to them and thankfully we gave them six goals."