Scotland's five-cap World Cup wonder who position in history is secure

The late Hearts forward will forever have the honour of being the first Scotland player to score at the World Cup finals.

Murray’s headed goal against Yugoslavia at the 1958 tournament in Sweden also earned the Scots their first point on the global stage.

Four years earlier, at the World Cup in Switzerland, Scotland had qualified for the first time but were ill-prepared for the experience. Wearing heavy jerseys in baking heat and with only 13 players in their squad, they lost both matches: 1-0 to Austria and 7-0 to Uruguay.

It was an ignominious beginning to the World Cup adventure. By 1958 lessons had been learned and Scotland travelled to Sweden with a bigger squad and more worldliness.

Murray was certainly full of confidence. His international call-up came on the back of a stellar season with an all-conquering Hearts side who were scoring goals for fun.

The 1957-58 campaign remains the club’s greatest ever, with records set that will likely never be broken. They won the title for the first time in 61 years, losing only once in 34 league games to secure the crown with a points tally of 62, 13 points clear of nearest challengers Rangers in the era of two points for a win. Even more impressive was their goals tally of 132 which works out at an average of almost 3.9 per game.

Murray was at the heart of all this. The definition of a local boy made good, he had grown up in Dalry and attended Tynecastle School. He cut his teeth as a youth with Merchiston Thistle and developed into a dashing inside forward who was good in the air and possessed a powerful shot. Despite this, he had to be patient for his chance at Hearts. The celebrated Terrible Trio forward line of Alfie Conn, Willie Bauld and Jimmy Wardhaugh ruled the roost at Tynecastle but by 1957 age and injuries were starting to tell.

Murray’s Hearts form catches Scotland’s attention

Conn suffered a bad ankle injury at the start of the season and Murray took his place for the league opener against Dundee. He scored in a 6-0 home win over Dundee and Hearts were up and running. They beat Airdrie 7-2 the following week, then Hibs 3-1 and East Fife 9-0. Murray scored in all four games and was now firmly established.

He missed just one league game all season and scored 27 times, with only Wardhaugh bettering his total, on 28. The brilliant Alex Young weighed in with 24 while the equally gifted Dave Mackay anchored the side in his final full season before joining Tottenham Hotspur.

Scotland’s selectors were taking note. A case could have been made for all three Hearts forwards being called up but Wardhaugh, having won the last of his two caps in 1954, was overlooked while Young would have to wait another two years for his first.

Murray was considered more than ready. He made his Scotland debut against England on April 19, 1958, a week after Hearts had clinched the title. In front of 127,874 at Hampden, England won 4-0 but Murray did enough to stay in the mix.

He was picked for two World Cup warm-up games, a 1-1 draw with Hungary at home and a 2-1 win over Poland in Warsaw, and was named in the squad for Sweden.

It was Yugoslavia up first for Scotland in Västerås, a daunting opening given the Yugoslavs had beaten England 5-0 in Belgrade before the tournament.

The eastern European side looked technically superior to the Scots and it was no surprise when Aleksandar Petaković gave them the lead. But Scotland, wearing their change kit of white jerseys and navy shorts, stayed in the fight and started to impose themselves in the second half. Murray’s moment came in the 49th minute, heading home an Eddie Turnbull cross. There were no more goals but Scotland had arrived at a World Cup, finally.

Unfortunately for Murray, he would miss the next match - against Paraguay in Norrköping - through injury and although Blackpool’s Jackie Mudie and Celtic’s Bobby Collins scored for the Scots, the South Americans won 3-2.

Murray returned for the final game in Örebro against a highly impressive France side. Again, it was close but the brilliant French inside forwards Raymond Kopa and Just Fontaine each scored a goal in the first half and Sammy Baird’s second-half counter couldn’t stop Scotland slipping to a 2-1 defeat.

France would go on to reach the semi-finals where they would lose to a Pelé-inspired Brazil team. It was the end of the tournament for the Scots, and, strangely, for Murray’s international career which had been short, sharp and memorable - all five of his Scotland appearances took place between April and June 1958.

He would go on to enjoy further success at Hearts. There was a League Cup triumph four months after the World Cup, with Murray scoring twice and setting up the other three more in a 5-1 win over Partick Thistle in the final. Hearts couldn’t retain their league title - Rangers pipped them - but the Tynecastle side came back strongly in the 1959-60 season and were champions again, with Murray contributing 11 league goals.

He left Tynecastle at the end of the following season, and would go on to have spells at Falkirk, Clyde and Raith Rovers, his place in Scotland's World Cup history assured.

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