Strachan happy with ref; O'Neill not so much

Gordon Strachan said he was happy with the performance of Italian referee Nicola Rizzoli during Scotland's 1-1 draw with the Republic of Ireland at the Aviva Stadium on Saturday, despite the official and his team missing Jonathan Walter occupying an offside position in the build-up to the home side's goal.

Rizzoli was the man in the middle for Saturday's Euro 2016 qualifier and was at the centre of some key decisions during the game – some of which Martin O'Neill and Roy Keane didn't concur, both men visibly agitated on the touchline at various points during the game and O'Neill receiving warnings from Rizzoli on a number of occasions.

However, Strachan said he found no fault in the referee's performance, despite having cause to do so. As well as missing the Walters offside, James McCarthy could have been deemed fortunate not to be shown a red card in the 30^th minute when he caught Russell Martin with his elbow in an aerial challenge.

The Glaswegian received just a booking, while Martin needed a few minutes of treatment on the sideline, leaving the visitors one man short during that time.

Yet when asked if he was disappointed that the Walters infringement in particular was missed by the officials, Strachan replied: “I've not seen it yet.

“I've not seen it, and I've got to say that I'm going to get back on the plane, have a cup of tea and just rest. I'm not interested about offside or not offside.

“I've got to say, I thought the referee was terrific the whole game,” the Scotland boss continued. “There were one or two things you might pick up, but I thought he knew when people were looking for fouls, he spotted that and no other referees I've seen [have] been brave enough to do that.

“So I think he helped to make it that intensity as well. Okay, there might be one or two [decisions] that might be dubious, but that's going to happen.”

When O'Neill was told about Strachan's assessment of Rizzoli at the Ireland post-match press conference and asked for his own view on the official's performance, the Ireland manager said:

“I'm not surprised Gordon thought that, I'm not surprised at all. Naismith refereed the game as well, for most of it anyway. So, yeah, I'm sure he did [think that]. Obviously it wouldn't have been our view in our dressing room.

“But that's...listen, the referee has a job to do at the end of the day and so...that's beside the point. Leave the referees out of it. That's the game.”

When asked to clarify his remark regarding Everton man Steven Naismith, the Ireland boss looked sheepish and didn't respond, with the line of questioning being moved onto a different subject.

Scotland equalised shortly into the second half when Shaun Maloney's strike, which was going wide, came off the back of Ireland defender John O'Shea and beat a stranded Shay Given. The result sees the two point gap remain between the sides in Group D of France 2016 qualification, with the Boys in Green sitting in fourth place with just four games left to play.