Ireland’s Jon Walters wants revenge against Scots

JON Walters says Ireland are out for revenge over Scotland in Saturday’s Euro 2016 qualifier at the Aviva Stadium.
Jon Walters and Ryan Bertrand battle for the ball. Picture: APJon Walters and Ryan Bertrand battle for the ball. Picture: AP
Jon Walters and Ryan Bertrand battle for the ball. Picture: AP

The Stoke City forward was a second-half substitute in yesterday’s drab 0-0 draw with England in Dublin, but insisted the Irish showed positive signs ahead of the weekend’s crucial encounter.

There wasn’t a whole lot of goalmouth action to be too excited by, and the scoreless result means Ireland have failed to score in 180 minutes of action, including the behind-closed-doors friendly with Northern Ireland last Wednesday, and bagged just two goals in their last three qualifiers.

Hide Ad
Hide Ad

It’s hardly inspiring ahead of the visit of Gordon Strachan’s men, but Walters says that if the Irish players are looking for incentive, they need only look back at last November’s defeat in Celtic Park.

“After Glasgow we want revenge,” he said, “of course we do, of course we do.

“We need a win next week. It’s a massive game and we’re ready for it.

“It’s a huge game next week and we all knew that.

“It was great to have this game to get us ready for that.

“I don’t think we got threatened too much but I thought our set-piece was really dangerous.

“Robbie Brady put some unbelievable deliveries in. We were unfortunate not to sneak a goal from one of them.

“It was quite a comfortable game in the end really.”

Former Celtic forward Daryl Murphy had two half-chances he could and probably should have done better with, while Walters was disappointed not to have beaten Joe Hart with an effort of his own.

“Yeah, if it goes either side of him it goes in, sometimes when you miss-hit those they go in. I just hit it too straight,” he groaned.

“We were dangerous with the ball in different parts of the game. Players like Robbie and Aiden McGeady put in some great balls.

Hide Ad
Hide Ad

“We played pretty well and are quite happy with the performance.”

The game was played at a relatively high tempo, and while the visitors harried and pressed the Irish – they never seemed overly disturbed that a draw would end their run of six victories in a row.

Ireland looked more eager to gain a victory that would have boosted confidence ahead of next weekend’s clash, but a clean sheet against a side including Wayne Rooney and Raheem Sterling was a positive for Seamus Coleman.

“We kept a clean sheet and first and foremost as a defender that’s your job,” said the Everton full back.

“I’m happy with the clean sheet and I thought a few of the lads got a couple of chances, we weren’t defending for the full game.

“We got a good work-out against England, a lot of lads got a good few minutes under their belt and we’ve got a good week of preparation to look forward to now, which is the main reason we’re here this week.

“I hope we’re ready to peak against Scotland, that’s the plan.

“Every game you play for your country is important, but the Scotland game maybe means a bit more than other international matches because it’s so important to the group and how we fare.

“We’re going out there to win.”