Pals tell me they like watching Scotland more than England
SAYS RUSSELL MARTIN
BORN in Brighton and domiciled south of the border throughout the duration of his playing career, Russell Martin is never far from humorous jibes regarding his belated involvement with the Scotland national team.
Lately, however, the man who qualifies for Gordon Strachan’s side on account of his Scots-born father, has detected more than a growing hint of respect when the respective fortunes of Scotland and England are debated.
‘To be honest, I have had so many texts from friends and fellow players who say they genuinely enjoy watching Scotland more than England at the minute,’ said the 28-year-old.
‘That is a massive compliment. That is true — a lot of my friends have said that.
‘They all watch our games, if I’m involved, and they really like how we play. I’ve had loads of compliments about our team and we are enjoying that, too. That shows you how far this team has come.’
Last year at Wembley, perhaps understandably given Scotland’s lengthy spell in international exile, England appeared visibly shocked at the quality produced by Strachan’s resurgent side.
On that occasion, Roy Hodgson’s side were victorious but it said much about how the game panned out that t he visitors chastised themselves for their part in a 3-2 defeat, with Rickie Lambert’s free- header a dagger to the heart.
In the interim, England have finished bottom of their World Cup group and have done the bare minimum in a Euro qualifying section every bit as intriguing as watching paint dry.
Scotland, by contrast, have grown immeasurably under Strachan’s guidance to the extent that even a narrow defeat in Germany was a source of bitter recriminations.
So, given the relative fortunes of both nations since the last meeting, surely the notion of England underestimating the Scots is now fanciful?
‘I don’t know. You’d have to ask them,’ Martin added. ‘I don’t have a clue. I think they know they are in for a tough game.
‘They will be concerned. And if we beat them, I will be giving them stick for a long, long time.’
For so long buried beneath last Friday’s qualifier, the small matter of England is only really now coming into view. Mar ti n sincerely believes, though, that while no qualification points are at stake tomorrow, the game’s oldest international fixture retains a special allure of its own.
Asked if he expected the same intense atmosphere as the Ireland match, he replied: ‘ Yes. It’s Scotland-England in front of 60,000 fans so there is no option other than for it to be intense.
‘Whether or not it will be the same for them, I don’t know. But I am sure after five minutes they will realise it. Under our manager, there is no let up. We’ve got a great result against Ireland and we want to go out and finish the year on a high.
‘We don’t want to end on a downer on Tuesday. We want to finish the job off and take us into the New Year in a good way, with Scotland in a great position to qualify in our group having given the fans something against England on Tuesday.’
Even on the back of Wayne Rooney marking his 100th international appearance with a goal against Slovenia on Saturday, England will have to go some way to penetrate the Scots’ rearguard.
Grant Hanley may have had the crossbar to thank for preventing him scoring a late own goal against the Irish, but he and Martin — together with full-backs Steven Whittaker and Andrew Robertson — proved an impregnable barrier.
‘They threw everything at us in the last 10 or 15 minutes, but I thought we dealt with it and were reasonably comfortable for majority of the game,’ Martin said.
‘It was a little scary towards the end when we hit our own crossbar.
‘Grant and the rest of the guys were really good, while Charlie (Mulgrew) helped us out as well. We knew they would come with an aerial threat.
‘We didn’t know Shane Long and Jon Walters would both play, but they did. Getting it up to them was a big part of Ireland’s game but I thought we dealt with it really well.
‘Whenever it was the first ball, we got bodies around them and that was a really important part of our game. It helps having midfielders in front of you who are putting in such a shift.
‘Winning against Ireland has put us on a real high. Obviously there is still pressure on us to win but we have enjoyed the Ireland result and are looking forward to Tuesday. Why not beat them as well and really end this year on a high?’