Berti gives Sullivan confidence Vogt

BERTI VOGTS refused to blame goalkeeper Neil Sullivan for Scotland's 2-0 home defeat by the Republic of Ireland and pointed out that the Irish are ranked considerably higher on the world stage,

German coach Vogts watched on as his Scotland side were outplayed by Ireland but refused to condemn Sullivan, who was later replaced by Paul Gallacher, for an error for the second goal.

"Paul Gallacher looked a little bit more confident. That is a problem with the goalies, they need a lot of practice," said Vogts. 

"I don't blame Neil. All together we lost the game. Neil is a good goalie and it was not his fault we lost the game. We didn't do enough and we will have to do more on the 29th of March when we play Iceland."

The Scots got off to a terrible start and Vogts was less than impressed.

"After 16 minutes we had made two mistakes. The first goal was a mistake and the second, too, and after that the game was over," said the former Bayer Leverkusen coach.

"The Republic of Ireland played in the World Cup and we are number 60 in the world rankings so it was not easy but we didn't play very well, especially in the first half."