Don't expect too much from Maloney - Bonhof

Scotland Under-21 coach Rainer Bonhof told Celtic supporters tonight not to expect too much of Shaun Maloney if he comes into the side to replace broken jaw victim Henrik Larsson.Scotland Under-21 coach Rainer Bonhof told Celtic supporters tonight not to expect too much of Shaun Maloney if he comes into the side to replace broken jaw victim Henrik Larsson.

Scotland Under-21 coach Rainer Bonhof told Celtic supporters tonight not to expect too much of Shaun Maloney if he comes into the side to replace broken jaw victim Henrik Larsson.

The youngster enhanced his reputation as a free-kick specialist against their Republic of Ireland counterparts with a wonderful dead-ball strike in their impressive 2-0 victory.

He is tipped to come in for Larsson during Celtic's quadruple trophy quest, but Bonhof attempted to take the pressure off the young starlet this evening.

Bonhof joked: "He almost did it twice last week, but today he was successful.

"It’s not up to me, it's a question for Martin O'Neill, but what he did today with his scoring and his fighting that was impressive.

"I don't think you should expect too much because it is a completely different level. This is a totally different level than playing for your club.

"You can make a few mistakes playing for my team, but you can't afford to do that so much at club level, but the signs are good."

But the former Germany player was impressed with his youngsters and they lived up to his pre-match billing of being his best squad since his arrival.

Former Celtic and Preston North End striker Simon Lynch completed the scoring after coming on in the second half and the boss was more than happy with their night’s work.

"We did well in the first half when they were putting a lot of pressure on us," said Bonhof.

"We handled that well, especially when they were playing good counter attacking football and I felt we did a good job against that.

"We then scored shortly before half-time and then scored again late on, but I was delighted because I told the players to keep passing the ball .

"We created good chances, but I was happy because the first half was more a fighting display, whereas in the second we created better chances."

Ireland's Under-21 manager Don Given said: "It's been a strange day and I thought we did quite well in the first half.

"There’s not much you can do with a Maloney strike like that, but in the second half Scotland got stronger."