GARETH Southgate has three weeks to plot for the second half of his audition for the England manager’s job.

After watching his team labour to a goalless draw in Slovenia on Tuesday, it is to be hoped the interim boss will look beyond the usual, failing faces, as he prepares to name a squad to play Scotland on November 11.

And while Jack Wilshere’s prospects of an international recall were enhanced by him being 815 miles away from the scene of his country’s latest torpid performance, the Arsenal loanee is not alone among Cherries players vying for England recognition.

Certainly, Adam Smith’s form demands attention.

It is unlikely, however, that when Southgate selected Glen Johnson – a 32-year-old who has played four times this season for the team sitting 19th in the Premier League – he was concurrently weighing up Smith’s credentials.

When injury forced Stoke City's Johnson to withdraw from Southgate's first squad, the call went out to Michael Keane.

Burnley player Keane is a fast maturing talent. But he is a centre-half and, barring a series of improbable events, was never going to feature in England’s matches with Malta and Slovenia.

Smith would be a like-for-like understudy to cavalier Tottenham full-back Kyle Walker. Cherries’ right-back is defensively adept and a buccaneering force in attack.

Moreover, you sense the England shirt would not weigh heavily on the 25-year-old’s frame, as it does with so many of its current occupants, plagued by fear and consequently incapable of replicating their club form when representing their country.

Smith’s footballing background is similar to that of Andros Townsend, a player who is a rarity in that he is plainly emboldened by having the national team's jersey on his back.

Unlike Marcus Rashford, Wayne Rooney and, indeed, Wilshere – Smith and Townsend did not crack their profession in the first flush of youth.

The pair had a string of loan spells away from their parent club – Tottenham Hotspur, who also utilised this route to nurture the slow burning Harry Kane.

Smith was hardened mentally by his time with Cherries, Torquay United, MK Dons and Millwall. He knows life on the lower rungs of football’s ladder. He would not be cowed by operating on the top step.

A year ago, it was Smith’s team-mate Charlie Daniels who was being touted for England recognition.

The ex-Leyton Orient man’s form this term is yet to scale the heights of his 2015-16 vintage.

But you sense, even if he was defending in the fashion of Paolo Maldini in his prime and attacking with the abandon of a young Roberto Carlos, Daniels would still have been overlooked in favour of Arsenal’s second choice left-back Kieran Gibbs when a replacement for Ryan Bertrand was needed this week.

In fairness, the nature of Southgate's sudden ascension precluded too much of a departure from the norm.

But when England's caretaker boss comes to town to check on Wilshere, he’d do well to travel with an open mind.