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'Bully-Boy Tactics' - The Scottish Media And Twitter Reaction To Drawing With Ireland

PJ Browne
By PJ Browne
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Robert Grieve, for the Scottish Sun, wrote that it was "uncompromising, bruising stuff" from Ireland and that "bully-boy tactics" were used from the outset.

James McCarthy rattled into Scott Brown, escaping a booking from Italian referee Nicola Rizzoli. Next Glenn Whelan clattered the Celtic skipper.

It was clearly a ploy to get in about the Scotland captain.

It was bully-boy tactics from O’Neill – two very deliberate, premeditated challenges.

The Daily Record rated Robbie Brady (who got the Man of the Match award from RTÉ) and Shaun Maloney as the joint best players on the pitch giving both eight out of ten.

The Hull City midfielder was deployed at left back and his ability to get forward and whip in dangerous crosses was evident on a number of occasions. Deliveries of inswinging corners from the right also caused our defence problems and led to Walters’goal

Andrew Smith, for Scotland on Sunday, wrote that we had the 'luck of the Irish' to thank for our goal and still having 11 players on the pitch in the first half.

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Not that it should be considered that John O’Shea deflecting a going-wide effort by Maloney at the start of the second period meant there was no luck for the Irish. Martin O’Neill’s men had that in sizeable helpings with a Jon Walters opener that should have been ruled offside and kept 11 players on the park after James McCarthy elbowed Russell Martin.

He also described Ireland as "roused, but rarely adept".

The Scottish Express did not think much of referee Nicola Rizzoli.

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Italian whistler Nicola Rizzoli is rated one of the best in the business by UEFA – a worrying thought after this abject display.

Again the Jonathan Walters' goal and James McCarthy's elbow on Russell Martin were the points of contention.

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Picture credit: Seb Daly / SPORTSFILE

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