Daily Mail Interview With Lee Wilkie!

Six months ago, a disconsolate Lee Wilkie could not have imagined he would ever set foot in either venue.

Yet, on Monday evening, after appearing as a half-time substitute against South Africa in front of proud father Bruce, he walked into the ambassadorial residence for a team reception with a Scotland crest across his chest and a full cap to his name.

It completed an astonishing rollercoaster year for the likeable Dundee defender, who has emerged from a row with Ivano Bonetti to become another beneficiary of Berti Vogts handing out international chances like confetti.

Wilkie took his with real gusto against Benni McCarthy and later could not hide his pride after a season in which he played 19 games on loan at three different clubs and was plunged into depression by comments attributed to Jocky Scott.

His former manager at Dundee took him south on trial to Notts County last autumn, but sent him homewards to think again having said he was no longer the player he remembered breaking through at Dens Park.

Wilkie, in moments of deep introspection, began to wonder if Scott was right, with his spirit already severely tested by the much-publicised row with Bonetti, which made him marginally less unpopular than fellow outcasts Marco de Marchi and Patrizio Billio.

'Notts County was the lowest moment in what has been an amazing year for me really,' reflected Wilkie here yesterday. 'I went down there and played a couple of games and came home injured. I went up the road and read Jocky Scott saying in the paper that I wasn't the player I had been.

'That really was the lowest point and I was wondering to myself, if I was not the player I had been and if had I lost my ability. But it was my confidence that had gone and I did not feel good at all.

'Now I am back in the Dundee team, I have made my Scotland debut and I never want something like that to happen to me again. I don't want someone turning round and saying that about me because it does not look good or feel good.'

A loan spell at Falkirk paved the way for a return to the first team a t Dundee and when Vogts watched the towering 22-year-old one midweek night against Livingston, it was to catapult him towards the senior squad for the Far East.

And with his dad watching from the stands in the Hong Kong stadium, the defender heard the words he wanted to hear at half-time, when the German withdrew Gary Caldwell.

'It was absolutely brilliant to make my Scotland debut, especially with my dad having come all this way to see me,' grinned Wilkie later.

'He was not in South Korea, but decided to fly over here hoping I would play at some stage. I spoke to him just before half-time and he was asking me if I would come on and I said I didn't know at that stage.

'He was over the other side of the ground from the dug- out. Then I got the shout at half-time to warm up and then the nerves kicked in. I was knackered warming up in 85 degrees right enough. It was certainly a bit different from playing in Dundee on a Saturday afternoon.

'I enjoyed it apart from the last minute when they scored their second goal. I was annoyed with myself for not getting a block on the shot.

'I was not quite tight enough or I might have stopped him scoring. It was a good pass and he took a touch away from me, but that was the only time my legs have let me down when I have stretched for something. Usually, I can make a block.

'It has given me a huge lift to be involved at this level. After this, I am maybe disappointed the season is ending and I have five weeks off.

'It has given me a lot of confidence. Berti Vogts definitely gives you a chance if you impress him in training or if show you him that you really want to play for Scotland.

'He is looking for guys to show passion and get stuck in. He will give anyone a chance, so that is good enough for me. It is good to make a good start and I felt I started well when I came on, with a couple of tackles and passes.

'Vogts seems to be looking for young guys and Tommy Burns told a few of us after South Korea that there would be opportunities here.'

Wilkie certainly took his chance with a sound display alongside veteran defensive duo David Weir and Christian Dailly, and is now setting himself high standards for next season.

'You must take the chance if it comes along - I could be in for a wee while if I can play well,' he added. 'I have a year left on my contract and my target is just to go and play a full season for Dundee if I can.

'There are Scotland qualifiers coming up and massive games approaching, including facing the Germans next summer. I want to be first choice centre-half at Dundee to start with, then take it from there.