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Ikecha Anya: Scotland can turn England defeat into a positive

Ikechi Anya takes on England right back Nathaniel Clyne
Ikechi Anya takes on England right back Nathaniel Clyne

Midfielder Ikechi Anya has warned Tuesday’s 3-1 defeat against England shows how far Scotland still have to go if they are to reach the finals of Euro 2016 in France.

The national team has made an impressive start to the qualifying campaign for the next European Championships and Friday’s 1-0 win against Ireland has moved them into a promising position after four games.

But Watford player Anya accepted there was a gulf in class between the teams at Parkhead on Tuesday.

Perhaps that should be no surprise with the English team packed with Premier League talents, while many of the Scottish players ply their trade in the Championship.

Anya said: “That’s the next level the majority of us are trying to aspire to.

“It’s the kind of level we need to get to if we are going to qualify for the Euro finals in France.

“As long as we can learn from this game, we can use it as a positive.

“Of course everyone was hurting after the match, but the main aim is to qualify.

“As long as this doesn’t happen again in the qualifiers, in the long run, it might serve a purpose although that doesn’t help how we were feeling after the game. We felt we’d let ourselves down and the supporters down. We’re going to work extra hard now to try to put it right against Gibraltar in March.

“Before we know it, Germany and Poland will also be coming to Glasgow. We are trying to win all of our home games – even if it’s against the world cham-pions.

“We’re trying to improve on a daily basis but I guess we’ll see when Germany come where we are.”

Anya's finest moment in a Scotland shirt came when he scored against Germany in Dortmund
Anya’s finest moment in a Scotland shirt came when he scored against Germany in Dortmund

Anya refused to blame tiredness for the national team’s poor performance against England.

Gordon Strachan’s side were involved in an intense scrap against Ireland on Friday but Anya felt the players were capable of performing at their best once again.

He added: “I said before that we couldn’t make excuses. As professionals we should have been able to play Friday and then Tuesday. We recovered great, training was great and everyone’s legs were fine.

“It’s just one of those things – we went on the pitch and unfortunately didn’t do what we’ve been doing over the past 18 months.

“It was a bit of a reality check for us. We all went into the game full of confidence, but England showed us this is the level we need to get to if we are to qualify for France.

“The only positive we can take from it is that there were no points at stake.

“We’re going to try to learn from it to make sure we improve in the matches we have coming up next year.”