Martin given a sharp reminder
CHRIS MARTIN stood no chance of putting Scotland’s sorry international series out of his mind when he returned to domestic duty with Derby.
For he, Johnny Russell and Craig Forsyth were confronted by a quartet of crowing colleagues from the Irish squad who sealed two Group D victories without conceding a goal to Gibraltar and Georgia.
Those victories moved Jeff Hendrick, Cyrus Christie, Richard Keogh and Alex Pearce into play-off pole position for the first time this year.
Scotland’s disastrous trip to Tbilisi has handed Martin’s club team-mates from the Republic of Ireland control of their own Euro 2016 destiny.
That’s a situation Martin is intent on helping to overturn after the next round of matches, which sees Scotland host Poland and the Irish entertain Germany.
‘This is the first time it’s the Scotland lads on a downer a little bit at Derby and that’s not going to sit well with us at all,’ stated the 26-year-old.
‘There’s a few Irish lads, so I’m sure they’ll be giving us a bit of a ribbing. We’ve had that going on since we’ve been in this group.
‘They’ve obviously come out on top after these two games.
‘Hopefully we can change that and it is reversed back again next month. We want six points and, whoever goes out on the park, needs to give their all to try and bring the results home.
‘The most disappointing thing is that it’s now out of our hands.’
Under new management at club level since Steve McClaren was ditched for Paul Clement, Martin has regained his starting place for Derby and scored both goals in yesterday’s 2-1 victory away at Preston.
His form this season wasn’t sufficient to persuade Gordon Strachan to promote him ahead of Steven Fletcher for the Georgia and Germany ties. With Strachan committed to playing one central forward, Martin faces a direct battle with Fletcher and Leigh Griffiths for the job — and he hopes better displays from slow-starting Derby can help.
Martin said: ‘I’m thankful to be in the squad and know I’m fighting against very good players to get a starting place.’