Liam Scales isn't best known for his goalscoring exploits, yet the Celtic defender has now netted during a UEFA Champions League match for his club and bagged his first for his country within the past month.
Scales, 26, headed home Robbie Brady's free-kick to give the Republic of Ireland a deserved equaliser in their UEFA Nations League away clash against Finland on Thursday night.
Brady then grabbed a last-grasp winner to seal maximum points in Group B2.
Scales barely put a foot wrong throughout the 90 minutes as he relished earning just his sixth international cap.
Speaking after the match, the Hoops centre-back reflected on the special moment and explained how getting on the scoresheet for Ireland had always been a personal goal.
He said: “It’s brilliant, it was a great feeling, and the fans just make it that bit better. We’ve been due a win, especially away from home, and to win it like that was brilliant.
Read more:
-
Celtic striker sold in the summer continues prolific goalscoring form
-
'Talent nowhere near enough': Celtic starlets set challenge by Rodgers
“We work hard on set pieces and we are told to attack in between the spaces. It was just one of them where I've attacked the space and the ball's arrived. It happened so quick that you are just trying to get as much good contact on it as you can to direct it, and luckily enough I did.
"I don’t get many; I’ve had a few this season already. I think in the last 10 or 15 games, I’ve more than I had in the previous two seasons already.
“Droughts come as well as a defender but hopefully I can chip in with a few more. It’s always been top of the list for me, so to check that off is amazing. I’ll reflect on it tonight and take it all in.”
Match-winner Brady was also quick to praise Scales' contribution, simply stating: “Scalesy’s done unbelievable to get himself a goal."
On Ireland ending a three-game losing streak, Scales added: "I think it will give us confidence, and I think that's been missing.
"We want to make a habit of winning tough games away from home, winning games at the Aviva. We want to make it a habit. We don't want to make it a one-off. We want it to become more regular.
"So, that's the plan. We want to take the confidence into the next few fixtures and hopefully pick up as many points as we can."
Why are you making commenting on The Herald only available to subscribers?
It should have been a safe space for informed debate, somewhere for readers to discuss issues around the biggest stories of the day, but all too often the below the line comments on most websites have become bogged down by off-topic discussions and abuse.
heraldscotland.com is tackling this problem by allowing only subscribers to comment.
We are doing this to improve the experience for our loyal readers and we believe it will reduce the ability of trolls and troublemakers, who occasionally find their way onto our site, to abuse our journalists and readers. We also hope it will help the comments section fulfil its promise as a part of Scotland's conversation with itself.
We are lucky at The Herald. We are read by an informed, educated readership who can add their knowledge and insights to our stories.
That is invaluable.
We are making the subscriber-only change to support our valued readers, who tell us they don't want the site cluttered up with irrelevant comments, untruths and abuse.
In the past, the journalist’s job was to collect and distribute information to the audience. Technology means that readers can shape a discussion. We look forward to hearing from you on heraldscotland.com
Comments & Moderation
Readers’ comments: You are personally liable for the content of any comments you upload to this website, so please act responsibly. We do not pre-moderate or monitor readers’ comments appearing on our websites, but we do post-moderate in response to complaints we receive or otherwise when a potential problem comes to our attention. You can make a complaint by using the ‘report this post’ link . We may then apply our discretion under the user terms to amend or delete comments.
Post moderation is undertaken full-time 9am-6pm on weekdays, and on a part-time basis outwith those hours.
Read the rules hereLast Updated:
Report this comment Cancel