McGinn out for revenge on Ireland at Hampden

JOHN McGINN has urged Scotland to become avengers tomorrow night by putting right their past misery against the Republic of Ireland. Steve Clarke’s side approach the Nations League match at Hampden on a high after Wednesday night’s impressive 3-0 win over Ukraine put them top of Group B1. Victory over the Irish would strengthen that position ahead of Tuesday’s final meeting with Ukraine in Poland. Eager to maintain momentum, McGinn wants Scotland to show their true selves and gain retribution for the dismal 3-0 defeat suffered in Dublin. A June performance lacking in any positives deepened the air of depression around the national team shortly

after exiting the World Cup play-offs. ‘That night certainly hurts,’ admitted Aston Villa captain McGinn. ‘A lot of the summer games hurt us and probably put a little bit more doubt in the back of our heads — and the back of everyone’s heads — about where we were progressing. ‘But the manager was first class last Sunday night. ‘He showed us clips from the summer and said: “Why have we got away from doing x, y and z?” Which was right. ‘The things that had made us brilliant as a team, the thing that got us to the Euros, the thing that got us to second in the World Cup group was first and foremost being horrible to beat, winning every second ball. ‘That night in Ireland epitomised everything that was going wrong in the summer, so we certainly have to try and avenge that on Saturday.’ Meanwhile, Josh Doig and Declan Gallagher have been called up after Nathan Patterson and David Turnbull were ruled out by injury.