Norwich City defender Russell Martin believes his burgeoning second career can bring fringe benefits on the international stage with Scotland.

The 25-year-old has been a revelation at the heart of the Canaries' backline in the opening months of the Premier League season. Martin's displays at centre half earned a recent recall to the Scotland set-up before an ankle injury forced him to withdraw from Craig Levein's squad for the friendly victory in Cyprus.

Martin – who captained and scored in City's weekend 2-1 league win over QPR – is confident he can add to his solitary cap ahead of next year's opening World Cup qualifying fixtures.

'There's a friendly coming up in February and if I keep my form and keep playing I hope I'll get called up into that and use it as a chance to stamp myself in that squad and get in there permanently,' he said.

'I was gutted, to be honest. I hurt myself in training on the Friday, blocking a shot, just before the Aston Villa game. I managed to get through that but after the game I was just in too much pain. I was in a boot for a few days and I spoke to the Scotland secretary and the physio and the doctor and I said I was happy to go over there and join the squad, but I wouldn't have been able to train or play, so it was pointless, really.

'They wanted to take another body who would be useful to them. I got called up as a centre-half, I spoke to them about that and it's somewhere I hope I can push myself and keep myself in that squad in that position. If I keep playing well down here, it takes care of itself.'

Martin was a key man in a City defence put under serious pressue against Rangers after Luke Young had cancelled out his early opener before Grant Holt's priceless match-winner. Martin insists the search for an elusive clean sheet should be put in perspective after three points moved the Canaries into the top ten.

'As long as we win games, we're not bothered,' he said. 'We want to keep clean sheets as a defence. Don't get me wrong, it hurts when we don't keep a clean sheet. People can talk about it all they want but this is the Premier League. It's tough to keep clean sheets and I think we deserved a couple in the five or six games from Bolton to Blackburn, when I thought we looked really solid as a team.

'I don't think we got cut open at all. Bolton nicked a penalty against us and Sunderland scored in the 87th minute. Things like that are frustrating because you really feel like you've come off the pitch deserving a clean sheet. We need to get back to that. One will come sooner or later and when it does, it might make it a little bit easier for us.

'We're not under any added pressure because we haven't kept a clean sheet. We need to defend well as a whole team. It's not just about the lads at the back.'