THE prospect of turning out for Scotland in two intense matches against Russia 2018 finalists Peru, an encounter which took place here in the early hours of this morning, and Mexico at the end of a long and draining campaign was clearly far from appealing for many.

It was known the games would be played against full-strength opponents in front of capacity crowds of 45,000 and 87,000 in the National Stadium in Lima and the Azteca Stadium in Mexico City respectively when the tour was first announced n January.

It is little wonder, then, that many of the national team’s players were either excused from travelling or pulled out so they could go on holiday and rest up from their exertions over the past 10 months.

Yet, even at the end of a difficult season, which saw him first overlooked for selection at the Brighton team he had helped win promotion to Premier League and then struggle to prevent a move to his beloved Rangers turning awry, Jamie Murphy never once considered not travelling.

It has taken the forward, who made his long-awaited debut for his country when he came on as a substitute against Costa Rica at Hampden in March in the first game of Alex McLeish’s second spell in charge, so long to feature he is not about to withdraw now.

“Every time there was a squad before I would look at it and it was always a disappointment when I wasn’t in,” he said. “I was playing at a high level and doing well - it wasn’t like I was just there making up the numbers.

“I am thankful to the manager and the staff here that they have given me an opportunity and I don’t want to let them down.

“It was worst when I was at Sheffield United. I felt I was doing great. I was Player of the Year and in double figures in goals and double figures in assists. At some point you do think to yourself ‘this isn’t going to work out’. But you have to stay patient.”

Murphy added: “These kind of places are not footballing venues you go to very often. You could tell that at training this week when everybody was waiting on our bus and giving us the thumbs up.

“It’s a massive thing for them and I’m enjoying it. You see games from South and Central America and they are big games against tough opposition, but we want to win the games and do well.”

The same applies when he takes to the field at Rangers. Having sat in the stands at Ibrox as a boy cheering on the likes of Jorg Albertz, Paul Gascoigne and Brian Laudrup, he knows the standards that are expected by supporters and understands that he and his team mates fell some way short of attaining them.

But having grown up a supporter he was unfazed by the vitriolic reaction to their heavy defeats to city rivals Celtic as well as their inability to finish second in the Ladbrokes Premiership. He knew exactly what to expect when he signed, on loan initially, back in January. If anything, those failures have simply strengthened his resolve to bring success back to Govan.

“It’s pretty easy for me now at an older age to just concentrate on football and ignore everything else going on outside,” he said. When I was younger it was maybe a bit harder to block everything out and ignore.

“Now I don’t focus on the outside things. I fully focus on the football and on working hard every day and not reading what people are saying - good or bad. Sometimes in the past I would read stuff and 95 per cent of it was good. But you would remember the one that was bad.

“At Rangers you can’t afford to fixate on what people are saying and it helps that I’m from Glasgow and know how it works. A few of the new signings come in and they don’t know what to expect, good or bad.”

Murphy added: “But obviously we can do better. That’s the aim for us, to get to cup finals and win cup finals and do better in the league and not lose games at Ibrox especially. We just need to improve on things like that and if we do there are the makings of a good team.

“I came in and felt I did well, scoring some goals and setting up some goals. It’s up to me now to improve and to help the team improve.”

Murphy, who was predominantly utilised out wide by interim manager Graeme Murty, scored five times in 20 appearances for Rangers and drew praise from supporters for his directness, enthusiasm and pace. But he believes he can be even more influential under Steven Gerrard next season if he is played through the middle.

“I haven’t spoken to the manager about that, but I feel I can play more centrally as I did at the end of the season if asked,” he said. “Growing up, I was an out and out striker. I never played midfield at all up until I was maybe 19 or 20. I moved out to the left and I kind of worked my way up from there.

“It’s something I enjoy. I enjoy playing centrally and the game at Easter Road (in the incredible 5-5 draw with Hibernian on the final game of the Ladbrokes Premiership season earlier this month) I was playing centre-mid for 80 minutes.

“I feel that in most positions I can do reasonably well and that just comes from good coaching throughout the years and watching other people and playing with good players who operate at full-back, midfield and maybe centre half.”

Incredibly, the game against Hibs wasn’t the highest scoring that Murphy had been involved in during his professional career.

“I’ve played in games that have been 6-6 and 5-5 before,” he said. “The 5-5 was the play-off semi-final for Sheffield United against Swindon. The 6-6 game was Motherwell against Hibs. It must be something about me that brings these games out”

Jamie Murphy is hoping to bring out the best in Rangers next term - and further his Scotland ambitions in the process.