FORMER Hearts full-back Gary Naysmith believes Scotland showed real strength in depth against Croatia last night.
George Burley took charge of the national side for the first time in the 1-1 draw with Croatia at Hampden and was forced to do without a number of Rangers and Celtic players. Allan McGregor, Barry Ferguson and Barry Robson were among those who pull
ed out over the last few days.
But Naysmith was delighted with the job that their replacements did, particularly in light of the quality of the opposition.
Naysmith said: "I thought that we thoroughly deserved the result that we got.
"Every game for your country is competitive. Croatia had a full-strength side out and although we had a few call-offs, I thought that we did really well and that the boys who came in to replace them did a good job for us.
"We have got a strong squad now – in the past we could maybe have said that wasn't the case, but we seem to have a real strength in depth now. The manager has just come in, he always wants us to be comfortable on the ball and to pass it around and I thought that we did that in stages during the game."
Naysmith will be in action for Sheffield United this weekend against Preston as they continue their bid to make the play-offs but the defender admitted that they will have to pull out all the stops to make it: "We have given ourselves a slim chance of making the play-offs against Preston on Saturday, they have been playing well lately, but hopefully we can go there and get the three points.
"It is only a small chance, but as long as there is a chance then we will keep going until that chance is completely gone."
The full article contains 316 words and appears in Edinburgh Evening News newspaper.
