Goodwillie has been in goalscoring form for United

By David McDaid

Dundee United manager Peter Houston believes David Goodwillie could one day outgrow the Scottish Premier League.

The 21-year-old earned his first senior Scotland call-up for the friendly against the Faroe Islands after scoring eight times in 11 games for United.

"David can be as good as anything in the SPL as far as goal-scoring's concerned," Houston told BBC Scotland.

"If he progresses, keeps his nose clean and works hard at his game, I think he can go even higher than the SPL."

In early November, Goodwillie was arrested in connection with an early-morning disturbance in Glasgow's city centre.

What he's got to do is knuckle down and make sure he looks after himself and stays clear of any bother Dundee United boss Peter Houston

The forward started the next game against Hamilton on the bench before coming on to score the winning goal.

On Thursday, he joined Liverpool's Danny Wilson and Barry Bannan of Aston Villa in receiving his first full Scotland squad call-up for Tuesday's friendly at Pittodrie.

"In that sense, I'm delighted for David," added Houston, who is also assistant to Scotland coach Craig Levein.

"I spoke closely with Craig about it. I told him early on about the incident in Glasgow.

"But David's a goal-scorer and Scotland and Dundee Untied need goal-scorers in their teams.

"If David Goodwillie goes on and plays and scores goals for Scotland against the Faroe Islands then he's back to doing what he does best.

"He has improved over the last three or four years and I believe he can play at a level higher that the SPL.

"But that's easy to say. What he's got to do is knuckle down and make sure he looks after himself and stays clear of any bother."

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