Steven Naismith has described his starring role against Holland as one of the best moments of his career and has vowed to show Scotland boss George Burley he can now be trusted in the big games.

The Rangers forward made his first start for the national team in the World Cup qualifier against the Dutch in September, having played just eight minutes against the Faroe Islands previously.

The narrow 1-0 defeat at Hampden was enough to shatter the dream of a place at South Africa next summer but there were plenty of positives to be taken from the game and Naismith hopes his performance was one of them.

The 23-year-old now hopes this weekend's friendly against Wales in Cardiff will help him further cement his place in Burley's plans as he bids to prove he is good enough to play at the highest level.

"It was definitely one of the best moments of my football career," said Naismith, reflecting on his shock inclusion for the Holland game.

"I totally didn't expect it. It was a great opportunity for me and hopefully I've done well enough to show the manager that he can trust me in big games in international football.

"There is a lot of competition for places without a doubt.

"Steven Fletcher did well at the weekend and you've also got the experienced boys like Kenny Miller, who is probably the most experienced forward in the squad. You've also got guys like James McFadden.

"So there is definitely tough competition but all the boys here will believe they are good enough to play. It's just whoever the manager chooses."

Naismith tends to be deployed more as a wide player at Rangers, while Burley appears to prefer to play him through the middle.

But he says he is happy just to be playing for both club and country adding: "You just have to go along with it and take your chance.

"It's the same when you are first coming through.

"If the manager plays you out of position, you just do it as well as you can and show the manager what you've got.

"Again, it was a case of getting on the pitch and doing well and I thought for the majority of the game we did really well and were unfortunate the result didn't go our way."

Fellow forward Kevin Kyle revealed yesterday that he would be willing to use simulation if it meant helping Scotland end their long absence from major tournaments.

But Naismith says he would find it difficult to resort to diving himself and believes such tactics are simply not part of the Scottish game in general.

He said: "There is a fine line between diving and some tackles flying in where, if you don't jump, you are going to get a serious injury.

"Sometimes it's down to the way it's perceived. It is a tough call for any referee, I suppose.

"I don't think I would do it. Because of the Scottish mentality, there are not many Scots who go about diving. I don't think it's a big thing in our game."

However, he admits Scots - both at domestic and international level - have probably paid the price for being too honest in the past.

He added: "Sometimes when we go away in Europe, other teams take advantage of it and they get fouls that we would probably say weren't fouls.

"But, as I say, it's just not in the Scottish mentality to do it."