Jones warns of Miller threat

Scotland striker Kenny Miller has been identified as the main goal threat to Wales tomorrow night by the club-mate who hopes to foil him.

The Wolves frontman is expected to win his ninth cap at the Millennium Stadium tomorrow as the Scots kick off 2004 with a friendly against with Wales.

Likely to be between the posts in the home goal is another Molineux man, Paul Jones, who knows all too well the former Rangers man has designs to put one past him.

He said: “I’m sure he will try. He has certainly got potential. He is very dangerous and we have got to be aware of that.

“From what I have seen in training and the games we have played he has certainly got that ability.

“He has been unfortunate that in the last few games he has played a little bit deeper because of injuries. He has had to help out more on the right side of midfield but he is certainly a goal threat.”

The Cardiff clash had been arranged as a warm-up game for the World Cup qualifying campaign later in the year, and for the home side it will be the first of a number of clashes.

Jones said: “We have got England and Northern Ireland in our qualifying group and those games will be very similar, I’m sure.

“Like us, Scotland just missed out in the (Euro 2004) play-offs and it will be a good test for both sides, I think.”

The showpiece stadium is likely to be nearly full for the game and Jones argued that a return of the end-of-season Home International tournament, which was scrapped in the mid-1980s, would be a winner.

“I have spoken to lads who have played in Home Internationals and they said they were tremendous. It would be brilliant to get them back.

“The fans would turn up, definitely. We haven’t played Scotland since 1997 but that was at Kilmarnock so there wasn’t too big a crowd.

“Things are picking up for both countries at the moment and it shows the interest that has been generated.”

That game at Kilmarnock also doubled as Jones’ international debut and he has now racked up 37 caps for his country.

But he admitted that his memories of those 90 minutes in Ayrshire had become blurry with age.

He said: “I must admit I can’t remember much about it. It seems daft but it was a few years ago. I remember it was good for myself to keep a clean sheet and I think John Hartson scored his first goal for Wales."

Hartson will not play tomorrow as the Celtic striker has a back injury – and Jones insisted the Scots should be thankful for that.

He said: “He has done tremendously well at Celtic. People shouldn’t underestimate him. His goals record proves that.

“Wherever he has been, at whatever club he has been at he has scored goals, and I don’t think you can argue with that.

“He is not a player who goes 90 miles an hour round the pitch but he holds the ball up well, gets in the box and scores goals.

“They are all different, strikers, and he is like the old-fashioned burly one who isn’t afraid to get his foot in or his head in.

“He’s a quality finisher and is difficult to deal with.”