The full back won cap number 25 for his country in Tuesday's narrow defeat to Ivory Coast on Merseyside
06:00, 02 Apr 2026
Scotland star Nathan Patterson
View 2 Images
Scotland star Nathan Patterson(Image: Getty Images)
Nathan Patterson admits it was special to hit his Scotland quarter-century on his Everton home patch.
But the full-back was even more thrilled to get the chance to impress TWO managers Patterson came off the bench in Tuesday’s narrow defeat to Ivory Coast and to earn cap No.25.
The 24-year-old is nailed on for a place on the World Cup plane, but there was also a chance to catch the eye of club boss David Moyes as he battles to get into the Toffees starting line-up.
Patterson knows his two bosses are tight, but Steve Clarke hasn’t issued any warnings about a lack of domestic game time. He said: “Are they talking? I’m not too sure, but I would imagine so, yeah.
“We just kind of speak and he [Clarke] says I need to try and get as many games as I can and all that. But I can only do what I can do, train well, and when I get the opportunities, do well. And I’ve done that this season.
“I can only focus on myself. I can’t worry just now. I’ve got to go back to club level and hopefully I can play as many games as I possibly can. Of course, it’s nice to get back on the pitch again, get some minutes under my belt, and I felt really good.
“It was a nice experience. It was good to hear some of our fans here as well, It was nice to have a home feel.
“The boys were asking me during the week what it’s like, and everyone was really surprised and taken aback by how good the facilities were, and yeah, that’s what we get every week, so it’s nice for everyone else to see it.
“It was positive. It’s good to get on the pitch and get two more caps, reaching, I think it was 25, so I’m delighted with that. It was obviously nice to get on. You want to play as many minutes as you can, and I got the nod and I was delighted with how I done myself.
“Playing against two top sides, we had chances to win both games, but obviously we never took our chances and we lost both. But it was just good to get some minutes with the team, and we look forward to the summer.
View 2 Images
Scotland's Nathan Patterson (left) and Ivory Coast's Bazoumana Toure battle for the ball (Image: PA)
“We’ve got 26 players who all want to be in the starting XI, and we’ve got some quality players in the team, and everyone can play a part in that. So we’ve got a really good squad.”
Scotland didn’t get the morale or momentum boost they craved in the friendly double header with 1-0 defeats to Japan and Ivory Coast. But Patterson insisted there was plenty of positives from squaring up with two top outfits.
He said: “There’s quite a lot we took out of the games. We tried two systems, obviously as I said, we played against two top nations, so we could have won both games, we created enough chances, and yeah, I think for in the summer, we’ll just make sure that we’re ready for that.
“You’ve got to play against top nations to test yourself. Obviously, we’d rather win both games, but we’ve taken a lot from both games and it’s good for the boys just to get more minutes.”
Article continues below
Patterson is determined to keep pushing at club level – and help fire the Toffees up the Premier League table. He added: “We’ve got a strong end to the season. We’ve got big games coming up, so hopefully we can get points to get to Europe.”