Chris Martin is determined to hang on to his place in the Scotland starting 11 after scoring his first international goal in the 5-1 World Cup qualifying win in Malta.
The Fulham forward rewarded Gordon Strachan’s faith in him by scoring the crucial second goal to put Scotland back in front against Malta before leaving the field in the 68th minute to rapturous applause from the Tartan Army.
The attacker said: “I was surprised to start. I only found out in the morning but it was nice to be included and good to repay the manager’s faith in me with the goal.
“I had the easy job as Matt Ritchie put in an unbelievable ball and it would have been very difficult to miss from there but all good attackers have to get in that position, so, all in all, it’s a very good start to the campaign.
“It was all about getting the three points and it didn’t matter how we got it. It was nice to get five goals and three points on the board. It was a perfect night for us.
“The reception from the supporters was unbelievable and hopefully I’ll get that a few more times.”
The win takes Scotland top of the group on goal difference ahead of England and the Scots will be hoping to stay there by beating Lithuania at Hampden next month.
Martin said: “Lithuania will be another tough game. I don’t know too much about them as I haven’t played against them before but we’ll do our homework like we did against Malta and I’m sure we will be ready for it.”