Simon Murray harbours Scotland ambition but is fully focused on Dundee survival

Simon Murray admits to having ambitions of a Scotland call-up but insists his focus is on Dundee’s Premiership safety.

The uncapped 33-year-old striker has notched a remarkable 21 goals for the Taysiders, who are in the relegation play-off spot, five points ahead of bottom side St Johnstone and one behind Ross Count,y with five fixtures remaining.

Dundee boss Tony Docherty claimed earlier in the month that the former Dundee United, Queen’s Park and Ross County forward deserved international recognition, which sparked a widespread debate about whether Steve Clarke should give him a chance.

Looking ahead to the visit to Tynecastle at the weekend, Murray said: “I mean, I suppose it’s definitely an ambition.

“From a young age, any sort of player that wants to play football, wants to represent their country and it’s obviously something that would be unbelievable, but it’s not my full focus or my focus at the moment.

“I’m fully focused on helping Dundee stay in the Premiership and if I could do that and I do my job, then whatever happens, (if) something like that was to happen, then so be it.

“I’d never thought about it or really, it’s not something that I’m actively thinking about all the time, but obviously I’ve got some sort of recognition in the last couple of months.

“I’m just focused on my own job and my own club and if I can take care of that and keep performing and if you get sort of recognition at that sort of level, that would be something great to look back on in the future.

“Look, Scotland have been doing so well. They got to the Euros, they’ve got top players in the English Premier League, they’ve had Kevin Nisbet and Lawrence Shankland and they’ve been doing really well for season after season.

“So it’s a tough squad to get into but at the same time, I know I could probably add something to that, but I just need to keep doing what I’m doing and whatever takes place takes place.

“But you can only concentrate on your own job and your day-to-day football with your club and as I say, it’s obviously a great honour for any player, but one that I’m not sort of focused on. I’m just focused on the here and now.”