Carling Nations Cup Round-Up Carling Nations Cup Round-Up from seestyle's blog

SCOTLAND secured a 3-0 victory over Northern Ireland in Wednesday evenings Carling Nations Cup match at the Aviva Stadium after dominating Nigel Worthingtons side for most of the game.First half goals from captain Kenny Miller and James McArthur gave the Scots a lead going into the break, before Kris Commons sealed the victory with a goal just after half-time.Miller opened the scoring from close range following a dangerous Scotland Brian Gibbons Women Jersey corner after 19 minutes. The forward pounced inside the six yard box following scrappy defending from Northern Ireland.James McArthur then extended the lead on 32 minutes with a delightful chip from the edge of the area Nikita Okhotyuk Jersey . McArthur admitted post-match that his spectacular chip was actually a cro s and few would have believed him if he had said it was a shot, considering his head was not raised when he struck the ball. Commons then put the game beyond doubt by finishing from six yards after an excellent pa sing move by Scotland. Sustained pre sure and po se sion combined with clever movement by Commons opened the Northern Irish defence up allowing him to slot home.REPUBLIC OF IRELAND beat Wales 3-0 in the first Carling Nations Cup match at Dublins Aviva Stadium on Tuesday night with three second-half blitz on the Welsh goal.Second half goals from Darron Gibson, Damien Duff and Keith Fahey secured the victory for Giovanni Trapattonis men, whilst inflicting defeat on Wales in Gary Speeds first game in charge.Manchester United midfielder, Gibson struck the opener Patrik Elias Jersey on the hour mark with a fine right footed drive from 30 yards. After a neat one-two with Glenn Whelan, Gibson surged forward before unleashing the wonder-strike which left Welsh goalkeeper, Wayne Henne sey with no chance Ken Daneyko Jersey of making a save.Seven minutes later, Damien Duff capitalised on suspect Welsh defending by smartly finishing off a move from inside the box. The winger found himself in a more advanced position after pre sure was put on the Wales defence, leaving the Fulham man with the simple task of tucking away Irelands second goal.Keith Fahey completed the scoring direct from a free-kick after 83 minutes. The substitute bent his shot around the Welsh wall which nestled into the bottom right corner past the outstretched Henne sey.The win puts the Irish joint top of the table with Scotland and leaves Northern Ireland joint Miles Wood Jersey bottom with Wales.Next up on the fixture card for the competition is at the end of May, when the Republic face rivals Northern Ireland with Wales up against Scotland the following night. The last round of fixtures could be what decides the winner as both teams who won 3-0, the Republic and Scotland, face each other in the Aviva Stadium.