Martin on a mission to avenge Wembley

RUSSELL MARTIN last night set his sights on England by declaring Roy Hodgson’s men got lucky in last year’s win at Wembley. Scotland approach the Auld Enemy clash in buoyant spirits after a 1-0 victory over the Republic of Ireland last Friday that leaves them well placed to qualify automatically for Euro 2016. Determined to ensure the bandwagon rolls merrily into the New Year, Norwich City defender Martin says a win in tomorrow’s friendly at Celtic Park would also heal the wound of a 3-2 loss in London last August. Gordon Strachan’s men twice took the lead that night only to be pegged back before Rickie Lambert scored a winning header with his first touch in international football. But with Scotland having improved still further under Strachan’s stewardship, Martin believes tomorrow’s encounter presents a golden opportunity

to exact revenge. ‘We should have got a result there (at Wembley) and we were really disappointed not to,’ he said. ‘That is probably the one result — along with Germany — that rankles most with myself, but probably the rest of the lads and the manager. ‘We definitely should have got a result at Wembley. ‘If Rickie Lambert had not had a free header inside the box, we would have got something. ‘We were not organised enough. He’d just come on as a sub, and they scored from that, which was really disappointing. ‘But we are a different team now. We are a long way down the line from then, further in the manager’s tenure, and a different team. ‘They will come up here and know they are in a tough game.’ In the intervening period, England failed to get out of their World Cup group in Brazil while Scotland have amassed seven points from four qualifying matches in their European qualifiers. Hard on the heels of a priceless victory over the Irish, Martin confidently predicts that the gap between the nations will be negligible when they go toe to toe again. ‘It wasn’t to be last year but, hopefully, when they come up here they we will be in for a real game,’ he added. ‘I think last time at Wembley they were surprised by how well we played. And how much we had a go. ‘They probably expected us to sit and defend all game but we don’t do that under this manager. We are a different side now and we will give anyone a good game.’