Underrated Scottish striker should be on radar for first international call up at age of 33

The sun is out and easter bonnets are being prepared, which means we are also entering football awards season.

I enjoyed my colleague Mark Atkinson’s testimonial on behalf of Celtic forward Daizen Maeda in Tuesday’s Scotsman and it’s difficult to argue with his assertion that the Japanese player is a front runner to be named Scotland’s player of the year.

I can remember writing something similar myself a couple of seasons ago after Maeda enjoyed a fruitful period around new year. However, the suggestion he might be a prospective footballer of the year proved wide of the mark on that occasion and at the time risked ridicule. Maeda was still seen as something of a one-trick, turbo-charged pony.

Celtic's Daizen Maeda celebrates scoring the opener in the 3-0 win over Hearts. (Photo by Rob Casey / SNS Group) | SNS Group

Kyogo Furuhashi picked up both the PFA Scotland and Scottish Football Writers’ Association awards, deservedly so, having struck 23 times in the second half of the season.

With his former teammate now out of the equation and sitting on a bench in Rennes, Maeda looks odds on to emulate Kyogo and secure both awards. But rather in the manner that he harasses defenders, Maeda might be conscious of having someone bearing down on him over his shoulder. Dundee’s Simon Murray will surely be among the nominees and at the risk of attracting ridicule once more - yes, I am aware today is April Fool's Day - does it not follow that he should be in the frame for a Scotland call-up? He is by some distance the native top scorer in the Scottish Premiership.

Just 13 days lay between Simon Murray galloping from one end of Tannadice to celebrate in front of Dundee United supporters after scoring the fourth goal in a comprehensive win and watching him sitting grimacing on the Dundee bench as he watched Rangers secure victory at the death at Dens Park. It was the highs and lows of football writ large.

He had just been subbed off moments after he himself had the chance to mug Rangers when he burst through on goal one minute into time added on. He hit the post with his effort and, well, the rest is history, much to Dundee’s frustration.

It was one of countless what if? moments in football. What if Murray’s shot had struck the post at a different angle and instead of bashing back out again had ricocheted into the net to make it Dundee 4 Rangers 3. Given the difficulties Dundee are having to keep the ball out of their own net, there’s no guarantee the visitors would not have equalised – or maybe scored twice – in the remaining, frantic minutes.

But if the hosts had been able to see this out against the dejected opponents then Murray would have been hailed the two-goal, match-winning hero with fine opportunistic strikes at either end of the game. His hooked effort after just two minutes underlined his predatory qualities. He was in the thick of it when Dundee scored a second. And then came that agonising moment at the end when he thought he had clinched a famous victory for his boyhood club.

Dundee's Simon Murray celebrates after scoring his 19th goal of the season in the 4-3 defeat by Rangers on Saturday. (Photo by Paul Devlin / SNS Group) | SNS Group

It would have felt legitimate to ask Docherty once more about the striker’s Scotland’s chances amid the upbeat press conference that would undoubtedly have followed. Instead, the Dundee manager was like a bear nursing a sore head when he came in afterwards. Murray’s international chances did not seem top of the agenda. Nevertheless, it remains a valid debate. Docherty himself addressed it a few weeks ago.

Had the shot-that-hit-the-post gone in Murray would now be on the 20 goals for the season. As it is, he is on a very healthy return of 19, including 13 in the league. Only the aforementioned Maeda has more.

Murray left the pitch clutching the back of his leg on Saturday night but is reported to be on course to be fit for Saturday’s crucial home game against St Mirren, when he will be eager to make it to 20 goals for the season – at least.

“I know it (Murray for Scotland) sounds ridiculous but in terms of the amount of goals he’s contributed this season and last season, plus we’re short of strikers,” Docherty said last month, after the latest Scotland squad had been named for the Nations League play-off games against Greece. Murray was not among the forwards listed.

It’s far from guaranteed that the grudging admiration of opposition fans, with Murray routinely hailed a menace, will translate into Scotland call-ups. Look at former Motherwell striker Dougie Arnott, whose never-say-die-attitude caused so many teams problems, notably Rangers and Celtic. And yet he is now condemned to feature whenever the debate about best players never to have received a Scotland cap comes around.

Former Motherwell striker Dougie Arnott was never capped for Scotland. | SNS Group 0141 221 3602

There were, though, creditable alternatives at the time. Both Andy Roxburgh and Craig Brown were able to explain that with the likes of Mo Johnston and Ally McCoist around, and later Gordon Durie, Arnott would have to accept that being tagged the hammer of the Old Firm, as he was, was the limit when it came to wider recognition. He was and always will be a Motherwell legend, which seems ample compensation for that missing Scotland cap.

It's likely Murray will have to be satisfied with an eventful career where he played – in two different spells - for the club he grew up supporting, as well as their fiercest rivals, and scored a winner in an Edinburgh derby for Hibs (the club his father, Gary, played for).

But it’s still reasonable to ask why shouldn’t Steve Clarke call up someone who is playing well for a Scottish top-flight club right now, whatever their age, whatever the circumstances? That it’s for a struggling team perhaps enhances rather than diminishes Murray’s claim. Where would Dundee be without him?

It would be novel if Scotland, after 18-year-old Hearts striker James Wilson became the country’s youngest ever debutant in the 3-0 defeat to Greece at Hampden, saw a player make his first appearance aged 33, the age Murray turned last month, when Clarke’s side return to action in June for two friendlies against Iceland and Liechtenstein.

After just one goal – from the penalty spot – in two games against Greece, the Scotland manager might be advised to try something a bit different.