As long as he gets the chance to make a contribution to United’s recent revival, the Trinidad and Tobago attacker will be happy.

“I want to start, but, right now, I am just pleased to be doing a job for the team. After the win on Saturday, we are all looking forward to Aberdeen. We’ve had two draws and a win in our last three games and we are going there with a bit of confidence,” said Samuel.

“I will keep pushing to be in the starting 11, but, the way the manager is using the strikers, we are all playing our part and I have to keep doing what I am doing.

“It is working, because we are starting to get results. We are now on the same points as Aberdeen and very close to the top six, so if we can get a result in this game it will do us a lot of good.”

And he knows any positive impact he has at club level will filter back home and give him a chance of being involved as Trinidad try to qualify for their first-ever finals when they meet Bahrain in a two-leg play-off next month.

A hamstring injury ruled him out of Dutch coach Leo Beenhakker’s last two squads, but he feels ready to return and join fellow Scots-based players Marvin Andrews, Russell Latapy, Kelvin Jack and Jason Scotland on the marathon journey to the Caribbean and the Middle East.

“I was injured and then not quite fit enough for the last games, but, if I am playing well for United, I know I might get back in. It would be a big thing for me if I was involved in these games and then, hopefully, the World Cup Finals.”

Keen to stick with a winning formula, boss Gordon Chisholm is set to keep Samuel among the subs for what he expects to be a tough battle.

Defeat against Hibs on Saturday left the Dons with just one win from six games, but Gordon believes that only makes his players’ task more difficult.

“I think it will be a hard game because there will be a reaction from their result at the weekend. When we played them on the first day of the season I thought it was a very even game and I don’t expect this one to be any different,” he said.

“The way we are playing, though, we have to be looking to build on Saturday’s win and get another positive result.”

And he gave a big hint he would be leaving the starting line-up unchanged for a fourth-consecutive game.

“We only have Lee Mair on the injury list and the extra competition having most of the boys fit has been a help. I’ve also been in the lucky position that, in the last few games, I’ve been able to use my subs for tactical reasons or to freshen the team up and not because someone wasn’t playing well. It’s been working well and, when that’s the case, you don’t want to make changes you don’t have to.”