Souttar has starred for The Cod Army on loan during the League One club's late surge up the League One ladder into the playoff places, leaving them within realistic distance of league leaders, Coventry City.

Championship promotion would cap off a rapid rise in the footballing world for Souttar, who has made a dramatic goalscoring impact in his brief Socceroos appearances thus far.

But the recent star recruit who has spearheaded Town's resurgence, Scot Paul Coutts, has had a cheeky jibe at Souttar - whose older brother represents Scotland - and his national career.

“Big Harry Souttar claims he’s Australian, but he’s from Arbroath, so there are a few Scottish lads," he told the Evening Express.

“We signed Barrie McKay in January and he’s been a great addition.

“I came in the summer and the hope was to get in the top six. But we’ve realised we’re a match for anybody and top two wasn’t out of reach."

Coutts said that although potential Championship football can't come soon enough

“I think everyone wants to resume the season but there are bigger issues at hand," he continued.

“Where we were and the run we’re on – if we’d carried that on, we’d have a right sniff of winning the league.

“But football takes a back seat and you just wait for everything to calm down with everyone staying safe.

“We’ve got a programme. It’s quite hard as with a summer break, you usually have a plan to build up to come back for pre-season. It’s been quite hard to gauge when we should be training and when we should be resting.

“We’re just waiting on the EFL to announce when we’re going to be returning.

“The initial date was April 6, then that was knocked back to April 30 and it looks like it will be knocked back again.”