IKECHI Anya today told his Scotland team-mates they must try to hit the heights England scaled at Celtic Park.

Watford winger Anya was unable to stop the national team from crashing to an agonising 3-1 defeat to the Auld Enemy on Tuesday night.

But the 26-year-old was impressed with how stars like Gary Cahill, James Milner and Wayne Rooney performed - and believes those are the standards Gordon Strachan's side should strive for in their remaining Euro 2016 qualifiers.

He said: "I think the England game was a good reality check for us and shows us the level we need to aspire to.

"It was not the result we were looking for. But the worrying thing was the performance. It was far from what we have been producing in the last 18 months.

"We have to review the game when emotions are less high. I am sure we will talk about it and pick up where we went wrong. If we carry on playing on like we did against England then we will end up going backwards.

"But I am sure we will learn from it and will progress and come March against Gibraltar we will be raring to go."

Anya dismissed suggestions the Scots were jaded after their epic 1-0 win over Group D rivals the Republic of Ireland on Friday night. He said: "That could be an excuse, but we are all full of confidence. We went into the England game after a great win. As professionals, we should be able to play Friday and Tuesday.

"It was just one of those things where England were a lot better than us. We need to learn from that and probably raise our game.

"But this one result should not eradicate all the good work we have done over the last 18 months. Right now, it is a tough blow to take. But we will try to take the positives from it."