MARTIN O'Neill, the Republic of Ireland manager, last night accused Steven Naismith, the Scotland forward, of refereeing the Euro 2016 qualifier between the two countries at the Aviva Stadium.

O'Neill was highly critical of match official Nicola Rizzoli after his side drew 1-1 with Gordon Strachan's team to suffer a setback in their bid to reach the finals in France next year.

Despite Rizzoli allowing a Jon Walters goal for the Republic which was clearly offside to stand in the first half, the former Celtic manager was scathing about the Italian's performance.

He claimed he had allowed Naismith, the Everton player, to influence his decision making during the course of what was an occasionally bad-tempered match.

When informed that Strachan had praised Rizzoli's display in his remarks to the media, O'Neill said: "I'm not surprised Gordon thought that. I'm not surprised at all.

"Naismith refereed the game along with him for most of it. So, yeah, I'm sure he did. Obviously it wouldn't be the view in our dressing room."

His opposite number declined to condemn the referee and his assistants for not chalking off the Walters goal - and then described his performance as "terrific".

Strachan, whose side stayed two points ahead of their Celtic rivals in Group D, praised Rizzoli for refusing to be conned into awarding the home team free-kicks during the match in Dublin.

He said: "I thought the referee was terrific the whole game. He knew when people were looking for fouls.

"He spotted that and there's not many referees I've seen brave enough to do that. And I thought he helped the intensity of the game as well.

"Okay there might be one or two dubious but that's going to happen. I've not seen their goal. I'm going to get back on the plane, have a cup of tea and I'm not really interested in whether it was offside or not."

O'Neill admitted the draw was a better result for Scotland - but dismissed suggestions it had scuppered the Republic's chances of claiming one of the automatic qualifying spots.

He said: "We are still well in the group and this is not just fighting talk. We've got two games in September, away in Gibraltar and at home to Georgia, and we will play those and see where that leaves us."