Paterson sure Scotland can silence doubters with win over Ireland

SCOTLAND star Chris Paterson has admitted his team-mates have been fired up by recent criticism – but he is adamant they can ram the words of the critics down their throats at the World Cup.

They aim to make Ireland pay for last week's defeat to Wales by finishing their preparations with victory at Murrayfield today and Paterson believes they will also surprise people on the world stage.

He said: "I think it does fire the players up when you hear things being said about you. We know how difficult it's going to be to qualify from the group stages and it's not going to be easy for the other nations.

"But after that it's a free for all isn't it? It's the knockout stages and everyone will be going flat out for the victory to take you through and I believe we can go there and shock a few teams.