Saturday’s goalscoring hero Simon Murray met the Dundee FC media team after the match against Partick Thistle and told them that he “absolutely loved” his afternoon at Firhill.
Boyhood Dundee fan Murray said that, “It means a lot and I was a wee bit emotional at the end with having some friends and family in the crowd. I missed a few chances and was maybe trying too hard but I’m just glad I got the winner.”
“It’s most important for the team. I don’t bother if I score every week; it is just if we win. That’s the most important thing to me and luckily we got it.”
“It is so tight in the league” Murray pointed out, “and wins like that are crucial, not just for the points but mentally as well. We can go into training on Monday with a good spirit and now we can look forward to the Motherwell game and bounce on.”
When asked about his goal that was disallowed for offside with the score at 1-1, Simon said he’d like to see it again but “luckily we didn’t need to go back to it as I scored a winner that was onside and with the head and I don’t score many of them!”
Talking about fellow new signing Steven Caulker’s involvement at the winner, Simon said, “Big Caulk’s got in there and I just went for it before the defender and was delighted to see it go in. He’s obviously got a massive pedigree and he’s a big lad who anticipates where the ball will be and has a real desire to go win it.”
“I always think if you can get in and around that, it will drop for you and you can maybe get three of four goals between now and the end of the season. You’ll take them as they are quite easy goals.”
Murray played the full game at the Energy Check Stadium but had two striking partners when he played the first 67 minutes alongside Sofien Moussa and then beside A-Jay Leitch-Smith when he came off the bench to replace the Tunisian. Looking back at how he lined up with both Murray said, “Moussa is obviously more physical and wins more flick ons but A-Jay comes to feet more which is maybe my weakness as I like to go in behind.”
“It was different and they obviously expected us to go long. A-Jay got in the pockets and maybe got turned which was good as it changed it up and he definitely made it a big difference coming on”.
Speaking about the 729 fans who traveled through to Maryhill Simon said, “Obviously coming from Dundee I know what Dundee fans are like. They are passionate and it is a Dundee thing that they always get behind their team. Win, lose or draw they always turn out in their numbers and it is good to see. When you go away from home and you are down near the bottom, that is maybe the difference that could pull you over the line.”
