Ireland won’t be fooled again by set-piece ploy, says Maloney

Shaun Maloney does not think the Ireland will be fooled again by another Scottish set-piece ploy.

The Chicago Fire playmaker proved to be the Dark Blues’ match-winner the last time the teams met in November.

He swept home the only goal of the game at Celtic Park after a clever corner routine with Scott Brown cut the Ireland defence wide open.

But with the teams set to do battle again in Saturday’s crucial Euro 2016 qualifier in Dublin, Maloney believes Martin O’Neill will have his team on red alert for any more Scottish slight of hand.

The 32-year-old said: “I think it will be a similar match on Saturday to the last one but I can’t see a set piece like that happening again.

“Have we got any more tricks up our sleeves? We haven’t actually started working on the set-pieces yet but I just can’t see that happening again, there is so much footage on every team nowadays.

“It was a special moment for the team and myself but I’m hoping there’s going to be more and a positive end to the qualifying campaign.

“That goal hasn’t really been shown much out in the US where I’m playing at the moment so I haven’t really watched it. I probably haven’t seen it again since that night. After moments like that sleeping is a bit of struggle. But I hope that it means something come the end of the group.

“We’d take any of our players to score the winner in Saturday’s game. It’s such an important match for both sides, particularly the home side. It doesn’t matter how you score — whether you play brilliantly as a team or you’re solid and get a set-piece goal, we’d take either.”

Scotland trail Group D leaders Poland by just a point, while only goal difference edges Germany ahead into second place. Victory at the Aviva Stadium, however, would move Gordon Strachan’s team five points clear of Ireland and crucially keep the Scots on track for next year’s finals in France.

“In terms of the group and the context of the match it would be a massive result if we could win,” said Maloney. “We felt the pressure in the home game because we knew it was so important. It’s a little bit less this time for us because we are away but it would be a similarly fantastic feeling [to win].

“Ireland are going to be a very hard team to beat again and we’re expecting a really hard match.”