Kenny not relying on Aviva victory blueprint for Scotland rematch

Stephen Kenny is not looking at Ireland's 3-0 victory over Scotland as the blueprint for repeating the feat at Hampden Park on Saturday night.

The two sides met in June at the Aviva Stadium in their UEFA Nations League group with Ireland running out 3-0 winners, looking comfortably better that the Scots for the majority of the match.

Goals from Alan Browne and Troy Parrott in the first half handed Kenny’s side a commanding lead going into the break, and instead of a reaction coming from Steve Clarke’s side in the second half, Ireland put the hammer down and grabbed the third to secure the comprehensive victory.

In truth, there could have been more goals for the boys in green on that occasion as Scotland were uncharacteristically poor, most likely suffering from the hangover of missing out on World Cup qualification.

But Scotland looked a completely different unit on Wednesday night as they secured a 3-0 home victory of their own, beating Ukraine to move top of the League B Group 1 table, and as a result, they arrive into the re-match brimming with confidence.

Kenny, however, is neither looking back at either fixture as to how he plans to approach the Hampden Park clash, starting from scratch in what he views as a completely new game.

"It’s a special game, both sets of players I’m sure are looking forward to it," said Kenny, speaking at the pre-match press conference.

"We treat every game in isolation. Scotland had a good win the other night, we respect that. They played well. We played well in our last few games.

"But every game is different, we are not dwelling on that [Scotland] game. We have to move on from that game. It’s a new challenge.

"Scotland were very good the other day, they played very well and to be honest with you,