Ramsey´s supershow piles pressure on Burley

Arsenal teenager Aaron Ramsey piled more pressure on Scotland coach George Burley as his virtuoso display inspired Wales to a 3-0 win over Scotland in Saturday’s friendly.

Ramsey, 18, played a key role in the first two Wales goals from David Edwards and Simon Church and then got on the scoresheet himself to cap a superb first half display at the Cardiff City Stadium.

This was the sort of eye-catching performance that persuaded Arsenal manager Arsene Wenger to pay Cardiff five million pounds to sign the midfielder in June 2008, even though he had made just a handful of appearances for the Welsh club.

He was far too good for Burley’s woeful Scots, who were completely out-classed. To make matters worse for Burley, who was handed a vote of confidence despite his failure to lead Scotland to the World Cup, he had to endure the indignity of listening to the Scottish fans calling for his sacking throughout the second half.

Burlet handed Celtic defender Danny Fox his debut, while James McFadden returned to the team and David Marshall started in goal in the absence of injured first choice Craig Gordon.

Birmingham forward McFadden threatened early on when he took Kenny Miller’s flick in stride and shot straight at Wayne Hennessey.

Miller went even closer with a powerful strike that flashed wide, but Wales took the lead in the 17th minute.

Ramsey showed great poise as he curled a cross towards Edwards and the midfielder timed his run perfectly to drive past Marshall.

The hosts pushed home their advantage in the 32nd minute as Ramsey continued to pull the strings. The teenager’s pass found Joe Ledley on the left and his cross was expertly flicked in by Church from close range.

Scotland were in disarray at the back and Ramsey exploited their fragility again three minutes later. His surging run took him past Stephen McManus and Darren Fletcher and opened up space to shoot beyond Marshall for the second goal of his brief international career.

It could have been worse for Scotland before half-time as Ched Evans saw his shot blocked by Marshall.

Furious Scotland fans made their feelings towards Burley known at half-time, but there was only a marginal improvement after the break.

Marshall was fortunate not to be sent off when he handled outside his penalty area, but referee Cyril Zimmermann let him off with a booking before Gareth Bale’s resulting free-kick was deflected wide.

Burley was the target for more verbal abuse from the Tartan Army in the closing stages but Scotland’s supporters were drifting towards the exits well before the end.