SCOTT Arfield admits he would have loved to have joined Burnley team-mates Stephen Ward and Matt Gilks at Celtic Park last night, but he will not get too down about his continued omission from the Scotland squad.

Scotland hosted the Republic of Ireland in a European Championship qualifier in Glasgow last night, with Burnley having representation in both squads – Ward with Ireland and Gilks with Scotland.

Clarets fans had hoped that Arfield would get what they believed was a thoroughly deserved call-up for the match, and Scotland’s friendly against England on Tuesday.

But again the Burnley midfielder was overlooked by Scotland boss Gordon Strachan, who instead opted to select 20-year-old Lewis Macleod - regarded as a hot prospect but still playing in the Scottish second tier with Rangers.

So instead of preparing to face Ireland, Arfield was yesterday on community duties with Burnley as he paid a visit to Oak Furniture Land in the town centre for the official opening of their newly refurbished store.

You would never have known it from his friendly demeanour throughout the visit, as he proved a worthy ambassador of the Clarets at the store, but Arfield admitted that in an ideal world he would have been a few hundred miles further north.

“I would like to be involved in the Scotland squad, I’m not going to hide away from that,” the 26-year-old said.

“I would have loved to have met up with the boys on Monday, had the full training and tried to be involved in the qualifiers. To me Ireland was the biggest qualifier in terms of the stature of the fixture, Celtic Park against the Republic of Ireland, and then England.

“But I wouldn’t say I’m disappointed. I would have loved to have been there but it just didn’t happen.

“I’ll try to stay in that starting 11 here and keep performing individually and collectively, then anything else is a bonus.”

Burnley do not have a game this weekend because of the internationals, with their next game at Stoke on Saturday.

But Arfield helped the Clarets claim their first victory of the season against Hull last weekend.

“It was brilliant,” he said. “After Saturday it was a good time to go into this break and we can enjoy it for a couple of weeks.

“It’s all about Stoke now.”