WATCHING Northern Ireland chalk up another World Cup qualifying win left Callum Morris envious but he believes he’s at the right place to rekindle his international ambitions.

And the popular centre back says that while his future beyond the current campaign won’t be finalised until the season is over, he couldn’t be enjoying his football more than he is back at East End.

Morris has made 11 appearances for the Pars since making a January transfer window return from Aberdeen and has struck up an impressive partnership with Lee Ashcroft, which recorded a second shut-out in three games during Saturday’s 1-0 win at Morton.

The 27-year-old, who saw what would’ve been a second goal of the season ruled out by referee Mat Northcroft at Cappielow, enjoyed watching his adopted country’s 2-0 success over Norway on Sunday that leaves them second in their section on the road to Russia.

Having been named in the squad for clashes with the Czech Republic and Germany last year, Morris told Press Sport of his desire to have been involved, and commented: “I think there’s something wrong with you if you’re not thinking like that; you are hoping that the email comes in or you get the phone call.

“The lads were brilliant again; they’ve got a great manager, set-up and quality players. It’s just unfortunate a lot of them in my position are playing in the (English) Premier League!

“I hope that, come June, I might be in with a chance; once you have a taste of it you want more. I’d like to think I’ll be involved again and that was another reason I wanted to come here and play.

“I definitely made the right decision to step away from Aberdeen.

“There’s no point in sitting about. I had to be proactive and get out and play because that’s what I’m employed to do and it’s been great so far. Playing on a Saturday is what you get paid for and what you work towards; it’s been brilliant to come in on a Monday and build towards the weekend, knowing that you have a chance of playing.

“I can’t thank everyone enough for the opportunity. We’ve got six or seven games left so we’ll see what happens. At the end of the season, we’ll assess everything but I’m really enjoying my football, more than I have done for the last few years.

“You can’t predict the future but I’m really happy at the minute.”

Morris continued: “You want to be somewhere that you’re happy and I’m fortunate to know all about the club and the fans and the town. It has been a privilege to play here and it’s good to be back with the club in a good place. This was my first club in Scotland and what we went through as a squad was a crazy two years; I made friends for life and even when I left, I was back and forth to see the lads and watch some games.

“I’ve always had a fondness for the club and we’re going in the right direction.”

Athletic certainly moved in the right direction towards Championship survival by defeating promotion-chasing Morton but it wasn’t just having a goal disallowed that has left Morris feeling frustrated despite the result.

He said: “I should be on three for the season (Morris also had a goal ruled out against Hamilton in the Scottish Cup) but I’ve only got one. It’s annoying but I’ll just have to score on Saturday.

“It was probably a good game for us to have after the week before and it was a great three points at a place where teams haven’t won in a long time. It proves the quality of the squad we have.

“If you take out the Falkirk game, we probably should have won every game we’ve played since I’ve been here, so it was nice that the performance was capped with three points rather than what could’ve been.

“With the run we’ve been on – I think we’ve had two defeats in 18 games – we haven’t converted enough draws into wins. It’s our job to turn things around and we know the task at hand. We can take a lot from Saturday’s result and it shows the character that we have.”