It began as a bit of banter but Keith Watson is now willing to put his money where his mouth is in his personal duel with a fellow Dundee United full-back.
The 24-year-old netted his fourth goal of the season on Sunday in the Highlands against Inverness with a bullet header from a corner, a counter that edged him closer in the scoring stakes to Andy Robertson who has five to his name so far.
Now, Watson is ready to up the ante as he and his defensive colleague continue to gamble to get in among the goals.
He said: “I’ve been having a bit of banter with Andy Robertson to see who can score the most goals. We were just having a laugh at the start but I’ve pulled a couple back and I’m on four goals just one behind him so it’s good fun.
“There are no bets on it but if I can keep this up, then I might try to get a wager on!
“It’s nice to score and four isn’t a bad tally so far but I want to play every week and hopefully I can keep my place in the team after scoring at Inverness.
“We haven’t been specifically working on scoring from other areas of the park, we just love to get forward.
“I know my goal was from a corner at the weekend but the goals have been coming from us gambling and pushing forward.
“It’s good to have full-backs doing that. It’s the same with Mark Wilson who loves to get forward as well.”
Watson admitted that it is even more important than ever that the goalscoring burden is shared throughout the team.
United boss Jackie McNamara did bolster his striking options last week with the addition of Farid El Alagui on loan from Brentford. However, David Goodwillie has returned to Blackburn following the end of his loan spell at Tannadice while fellow forwards Nadir Ciftci and Brian Graham are struggling with injury.
Watson added: “We’re a bit light in the striking department with injuries and it’s important that the rest of us chip in with goals.
“We’ve signed Farid, who is a goal scorer. He scored a lot of goals when he was at Falkirk and he’ll get his chance to come in and show what he can do and hopefully he can step up and score a few goals.
“Farid has fitted in well. He looks strong in training and can put himself about. He caused the Inverness defence a few problems when he came on so he’ll be good to work with.
“We came up against him when we lost to Falkirk on penalties in the League Cup. He scored a header and caused us problems so it’s better to have him on our side now.
“But we’ve got players who can score from all over the pitch when we’re going forward. As defenders, the manager just tells us to go out and do our job. We defend first and foremost and anything else is a bonus.
“Andy has scored a few, Stuart Armstrong, Gary Mackay-Steven and Ryan Gauld have all chipped in and it’s good to have that in the team.”
Watson has been locked in a battle for the right-back jersey with Wilson, who arrived for his second spell at the club in August.And he admits he has benefited from the experience.
He said: “I’ve learned from Mark. He was at Celtic for a few years and has played in the Champions League. You can only learn from someone like that who has been there and done it at the top level.”
United have drawn their last two games but have not won in five since their unbeaten run came to an end with defeat against St Mirren in Paisley, a game that also saw Watson sent off.
Now, though, he is determined to get back to winning ways when United travel to the Highlands again this Sunday to play Ross County.
He said: “It’s been tough in the past few games and the fans are expecting us to win every game after that run we went on. We’ve started to pick up and scoring the two late goals to get the draw against Hibs has given us a bit of life again.
“We created a lot of chances against Inverness and either team could have nicked it, so to get a point after they missed a penalty was probably quite good for us and we look forward to returning to the Highlands and hopefully getting back on the winning track against Ross County.”