Che Adams admits the defeat to Republic of Ireland in the summer hurt more than the body slam he suffered against Ukraine.
But the Scotland striker shrugged off the wild challenge in Wednesday’s win and he determined to bounce back and get revenge over the Irish. Adams was wiped out by a grid iron style shoulder charge by Ukraine’s Valeriy Bodnar in the 3-0 victory but dusted himself down to soften up the visitors’ defence before the goals came late on. The Southampton frontman is ready to go again this weekend but the wounds have yet to heal from the shock three goal hammering by Ireland in Dublin in June.
Adams said: “We owe Ireland now from the summer. It is going to be a good game and I’m excited for it. We weren’t at it that day in June. There are no excuses. Now we have to put that right at the weekend and show what we are about.
“They will have seen that result against Ukraine and they will be worried. It could have been more. We 100 percent try to win the next two games.
“We are top of the group and that’s what the manager wanted, to show what this team is capable of doing. Winning the group is everyone’s ambition. You could see that against Ukraine. We had to win and did that very well.”
Adams admitted Bodnar could do a job in American football after his crazy challenge but he was delighted to play his part in Scotland’s win despite suffering brutal luck in front of goal. The striker was superb at leading the line and he was the one bashing defenders around all night despite taking a sort one.
Sub Lyndon Dykes came on to bag a double and claim the credit but Adams was thrilled the first half flashpoint didn’t end his night or come back to bite Scotland.
He said: “I can’t even remember what happened! All I know is that I was through on goal. The referee only gave him a yellow card. Did I think it was a red? I think the fans did!
“Could he play NFL? Maybe he should! Nah, I was alright. The most important thing was winning and I thought we played very well. Looking back I definitely should have had one goal. The main thing was we won.
“Then Lyndon came on and scored two and that is just the way football is. He played very well. It was a top performance from everyone.
“We are good enough now to put teams under pressure. That is what the gaffer has told us to do. Bring more pressure to the opposition and we definitely stood on more to them in the second half and caused them issues.
“We had a lot of chances but I should have scored. The team are good now and we could have scored more. We went in at half-time and were full of belief that we could win because we dominated the first-half.
“Then we went on to dominate the whole of the game. It is one of those that we have to take that performance into the rest of the games and hopefully we can get results.”
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