Falkirk goalkeeper Scott Bain is relishing his return to the Scotland national team after contemplating “calling it a day” and hanging up his gloves.
The 34-year-old’s second half cameo in Tuesday night’s 1-0 friendly defeat to Ivory Coast marked his first appearance for the national side since 2019 when he played 90 minutes in a 2-0 win over San Marino as part of their qualifiers for Euro 2020.
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Bain, who had been third choice goalkeeper at Celtic for a number of years, joined Falkirk in the summer and has become a mainstay as John McGlynn’s side edge closer to securing top six football.
“I was planning on doing coaching badges and calling it a day,” Bain said of his career turnaround in the last 12 months.
“It’s been a great season, a great moment for me. I can go home and potentially have an amazing season at Falkirk and if that leads to getting on the plane for the World Cup then that leads to that.”
Bain replaced Rangers goalkeeper Liam Kelly at half-time in Tuesday’s pre-World Cup friendly against Ivory Coast and put in a solid performance.
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Nottingham Forest goalkeeper Angus Gunn had started Saturday’s game against Japan and of the three called up for this month’s friendlies, Bain is the only one getting game time on a regular basis.
And while the Falkirk number one is hopeful it’ll stand him in good stead when Steve Clarke contemplates his World Cup squad.
“The manager said before we left that it’s not often you get to play a game with the shackles off and not scrapping for three points,” he added.
“It resonated with me, I’ve waited a long time to come back into the Scotland set-up and I’m just going to enjoy it.
“We’ve got excellent keepers with real experience and a lot of caps between them so it certainly helps me to feel like I’m in a better place.”
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