Craig Levein's 'aura' is a boon for Scotland, says Steven Naismith

The Rangers midfielder helped the Scots to a comprehensive 3-0 win over Northern Ireland in their opening Carling Nations Cup game at the Aviva Stadium in Dublin on Wednesday night.

Scotland's impressive performance was typified by their third goal early in the second half when a free-flowing move ended with Naismith feeding Kris Commons, who drove past Irish keeper Jonathan Tuffey. The former Kilmarnock player claims the manager's approach facilitates a team spirit which came to fruition against Nigel Worthington's side, who were admittedly weakened by a raft of withdrawals.

"The manager has an aura and a presence about him," Naismith said. "You can still have a laugh and talk to him which is very good, but when he walks in the room you know he is the boss.

"It is a very good camp. It's as much of a club scene as it can be and it's definitely an enjoyable place to be. The manager is very thorough in the way he wants to play and assessing the way the opponents are going to play. It's very enjoyable when the team plays so well and there is a lot of movement and the passing is good and crisp.

"All the midfield can inter-change and that showed against Northern Ireland. The third goal started in the centre of midfield and then it was me and Kris Commons who have combined a bit further up the park. I really enjoyed it."

Naismith saw some familiar faces in the Irish line-up in Ibrox team-mates Steven Davis and David Healy - and is keen to meet up again with them at Murray Park this week.

"I'm sure I will have a few words with them at training, but they were unfortunate," he said.

"They had a few players who pulled out through injury, retirement and what not, so it was a bit of a harder task for them. But I don't think we should take much away from our performance because it was a very good one."

Meanwhile, Wigan boss Roberto Martinez heaped praise on his midfielder James McArthur who scored his first Scotland goal after coming in to replace Scott Brown, who was injured in the warm-up.

"It is a clear example of what James McArthur is," he said. "He is a true professional. When you go into a game as late as that when someone pulls out of the warm-up injured, he is the type of professional who is ready.

"I was so impressed with the way he played and the maturity he showed.

"He looked as though he had played at that level for years, the way he performed through the whole game."

And Martinez added: "I am sure we are going to see a lot more of James McArthur.

"It was a historic moment seeing him score his first senior goal.

"It is something that he will always remember and we are extremely proud of him."