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Scotland's Craig Levein targeting victory over Republic of Ireland to clinch Home Nations Cup
May 25, 2011 10:44:00 PM
Tartan Army boss keeping grounded after impressive display against Gary Speed’s side while looking ahead to the tournament decider against Ireland on Sunday
Scotland manager Craig Levein was pleased with the victory against Wales in the Home Nations Cup, and is targetting a victory over the Republic of Ireland on Sunday which will clinch the trophy for the Tartan Army.
Wales took the lead in the game through Robert Earnshaw, though Levein was pleased with his teams attacking threat throughout the game.
“We won the game and we played some good football and scored three goals,” Levein told SkySports.
“We didn’t give up many chances in the match, defensively we did reasonably well. Overall it was good.
“I didn’t think we were that bad in the first half, I thought we played quite well, we missed numerous chances,
“We made one mistake and were punished for it and there wasn’t a huge difference between the first half and the second half,
“Just one minor detail in the midfield area and it made all the difference and we played some good stuff overall, not just in the second half.
Scotland’s comfortable win was on the back of a victory over Northern Ireland in their last outing in the Home Nations Cup, though Levein is taking each game as it comes.
“Momentum can be a fragile thing, it’s alright me talking about things but we have to prove it on the field and in the second half in particular,
“The lads after being a goal down showed great resilience and not just that, they played in the right manner and we created a dozen chances in the match.
“Overall it was a pleasing performance for a manager.”
Scotland will now face the Republic of Ireland in a straight fight for the cup and Levein says his side want to win the competition.
“We expect a tough match. We have one or two guys who took knocks tonight and we have to assess that and see how we are tomorrow.
“We’ve enjoyed tonight’s match, ultimately because we won and we will try and win again on Sunday.”
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