Shankland needs to start scoring for Scotland’s sake
Dundee United striker Lawrence Shankland is confident that the Tannadice side will rediscover their edge for Friday night’s clash against Inverness Caley Thistle.
But he admits drawing a blank at Alloa on Friday night didn’t do his Scotland prospects much good.
Robbie Nielson’s side are without a win in their last five games, indicative perhaps of the manner in which they are cantering to thetitle.
Shankland, however, has insisted that there is nothing untoward about recent performances.
“If someone had offered us this kind of lead at the start of the season, we’d have taken it quite happily,” he said.
“We have a big game this week against Inverness, who are our closest rivals in the Championship table.
“If we can win that, it will open the gap up again, and that’s what we’ll look to do.
“I thought we were quite at it against Alloa. I don’t think we were too far off.
“The last two games before that were a lot worse football-wise than we were on Friday. We just have to take the positives out of it.
“We know what to expect, but we’re not going to get too negative about it. It’s still a point that takes us in the right direction.
“That’s how we’ve got to look at it going into Friday night’s game.”
Shankland has netted 28 goals this season – one of which came for Scotland in the 6-0 win over San Marino back in October.
Leigh Griffiths has since come to the fore again at Celtic to give Steve Clarke something to consider ahead of next month’s Euro 2020 play-offs.
It remains to be seen if Shankland is included in Clarke’s squad, and he is taking nothing for granted on the international front.
Asked if he thought his stats this season ought to mean he is given consideration for a place in the Scotland squad, Shankland said: “Not at all.
“It’s based on current form, who’s doing well.
“There are a lot of
Scottish boys who are banging in goals, and I need to do that to stay in contention.
“I didn’t score onFriday, so I didn’t do myself much good. But I need to just keep trying to score as many as I can. Next week’s the next chance I’ll get, so I’ll aim for that.
“If the manager has loads of options in the goalscoring department, then it can only be good for the country.”
By his own prolific standards, Shankland’s current run of two games without a goal is something of a dry spell. Worryingly for Inverness, the striker has not gone three games without hitting the back of the net at any time this season.
“I’m going to get chances and miss them. It’s impossible to score with every chance I get,” he said.
“I like to get on the scoresheet, but I’m not going to get too worried about it.
“As long as we win I’ll be happy.”