Lewis Miller riding his Socceroos redemption story

All Lewis Miller wanted for months was a shot at redemption for his costly moments of madness in Qatar.

Now he’s seized it, he has his eyes set on doing something special with the Socceroos.

Miller was distraught when his late lunging tackle on Son Heung-min gifted South Korea an equalising penalty to take Australia’s Asian Cup quarter-final to extra-time.

Then Miller gave away a dangerous free kick, which Son curled past Mat Ryan to eliminate the Socceroos.

Eight months later, on his first international game since that disastrous night, Miller took his moment.

Miller’s head – complete with a bleach-blond crew cut he dyed himself while bored on a cold, rainy Edinburgh day – rose highest and flicked home an equaliser against China on Thursday night.

With it, he kickstarted the Socceroos’ comeback 3-1 win that revitalises their World Cup qualifying campaign.

Miller, 24, burst into ecstasy, taking off and visibly screaming ‘let’s f***ing go’ as his teammates flooded him.

“The emotion just took over me, and I did not rehearse that celebration, I just ran off into the distance,” Miller told AAP.

“But look, it obviously means a great deal that I’ve got to have almost a redemption period, because obviously I didn’t perform the way I wanted to perform in the tournament.

“But I’m looking to make up for that, especially under a new manager (Tony Popovic) and to please the fans.

“But not only that, but for myself – because I know I’m capable of more.”

Miller’s teammates rallied as he pondered his career low point.

“We had a very supportive group, and a lot of senior players have gone through similar situations or just knew how to encourage and keep me afloat,” he said.

“Martin Boyle put a hand on my shoulder, told me that everything will be fine, and there’ll be a chance for me to keep going on and redeem what’s happened. He said it happens to the best of us.”

Popovic’s switch to a back three with wingbacks suits Miller’s athleticism perfectly – and he is determined to make the right side his own.

“I want it more than anything,” he said.

“There’s no greater honour than to play for your country, so I will do whatever I can to keep this spot or make it very difficult for someone else to take it from me.”

Miller, who relishes the physicality of the bruising Scottish Premiership, is the first to admit he has white line fever.

“The emotions take hold of me the second I cross that line,” he laughs.

“All I want to do is win and beat whoever I can and do whatever I have to do to get that result.”

He’s not apprehensive about facing Japan’s highly-pedigreed attackers in Saitama on Tuesday night.

“I love the competitive side to it. I’m not scared or fearful of any opposition,” he said.

“I’m just gonna play my game and play it to my best ability and stop whoever’s on that left side.”