ENGLAND handed Scotland a reality check on Tuesday at Celtic Park.

But the one consolation is the defeat did not come in the game that really mattered.

Gordon Strachan and his players would be feeling much worse if they had won the friendly against England but lost the qualifier against the Republic of Ireland.

That said, it was still hard to watch the way Roy Hodgson's side eased to victory.

For the first time in ages, I felt it was a game Scotland were not going to be be able to get into.

England did to us what we have been doing to other teams. They out-hounded us right from the start.

The likes of Wayne Rooney and Jack Wilshere are simply a class above anyone we have got, and Gordon was right when he concluded it was Championship players v Champions League players.

The point is that the England lads perform at that pace and intensity every week in their league whereas our lads had to try and step up to it.

That was made all the more difficult by the fact they had put so much effort into beating the Republic of Ireland four days earlier.

It's one thing to tell the manager you don't want to be left out because you are desperate to play, it's quite another to be able to actually do it when the whistle blows and you are faced with that class of opposition.

That's just one of the lessons I am sure has been learned by all involved.

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