Town centre-half Christophe Berra says he’s “moved on” from his red card in the Blues’ play-off semi-final second leg defeat to Norwich City, believing it’s important not to dwell on the lows that are part and parcel of a footballer’s career.
Berra, who will be suspended for Town's opening game of 2015/16, was dismissed for blocking Nathan Redmond’s goalbound shot with his arm in the 49th minute of the game at Carrow Road, an incident which turned the tie in the Canaries’ favour.
"That is football,” Berra said at a press conference ahead of Scotland’s two summer internationals earlier today.
"I have had bigger downs in my life. You get highs and lows during your career and you just bounce back.
"Until the sending off it was a very tight game. It wasn’t a handball that I thought about.
"I put my leg out and my arm was moving anyway, it was just a reaction in a split-second.
"You need to get over it and I have moved on. I am looking forward to these games and the start of next season. You can’t dwell on it.”
Scotland face Qatar in a friendly in Berra’s home city of Edinburgh on Friday and then the Republic of Ireland - who have his team-mates Daryl Murphy and David McGoldrick in their squad - in a vital Euro 2016 qualifier in Dublin a week on Saturday.
The 30-year-old has won 29 full caps, scoring three international goals, but has largely been a peripheral figure since Gordon Strachan took over as Scotland boss in January 2013 - although he scored the winning goal having come off the bench in the 1-0 friendly victory over Northern Ireland in March - and he is keen to feature more regularly.
"I haven’t played as many minutes as I would have liked but that is credit to the boys,” he admitted.
"Over the course of the campaign, the manager has not changed much and we have been pretty solid and got mostly positive results.
"I just need to train well and play well for my club, which I did this season. When I was at Hearts I had a very good record at Easter Road, beating Hibs most of the time.
"I also played against Australia when we won 3-1. It is a great ground, modern — and my mum and dad live two minutes away so it is an easy walk for them.”
As a result of their summer international involvement, Berra, Murphy and McGoldrick will miss the start of Town pre-season training which begins in the final week of June.