Mark McGhee predicting tough Republic of Ireland battle

Scotland assistant manager Mark McGhee believes that it may require "a bit of brilliance" to overcome the Republic of Ireland in next weekend's crunch Euro 2016 qualifier.

The Tartan Army won the reverse fixture 1-0 at Celtic Park last November, courtesy of Shaun Maloney's fine curled strike 16 minutes from time.

That victory leaves Scotland in third place in the Group D standings, two points in front of Ireland ahead of their latest clash.

"The two squads are fairly well matched," McGhee is quoted as saying by BBC Sport. "I think that was shown in the match over here.

"We won it with a bit of brilliance and it will probably take something like that to unlock one of the defences. I think it will be close but we believe we can go there and cause them problems and win the game.

"We'll be trying to win the game but they'll be saying the same thing. They were hurt after losing the first game to us and they'll be looking for revenge and to keep themselves in the section."

Scotland have lost just one of their last seven games heading into the Dublin showdown.