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Slovakia boss Jan Kozak eyes turnaround against Scotland

Boss Jan Kozak wants his Slovakia side to get out of their World Cup qualifying mess with a much-needed win over Scotland on Tuesday night.

After two Group F games the Slovaks have still not scored a goal and have no points after 1-0 defeats to England at home and Slovenia away.

Kozak hopes the turning point in the campaign will come against Gordon Strachan's side who are under some pressure themselves after drawing 1-1 with Lithuania at Hampden Park on Saturday which left them on four points.

Speaking at the prematch press conference at the Stadion Antona Malatinskeho in Trnava, Kozak said: "If we want to have the hopes to qualify for the World Cup in 2018 we need to get some points in this match.

"We have got ourselves into this situation with two unneccessary defeats.

"I think we could have done more. So we need to win this match if we want to keep hopes of qualifying.

"But it is not easy to win matches at international level but as I said it is up to us to get out of this situation.

"We are at home and we will try to play more attaking football but we have to get a good balance between defence and attack.''

Scotland have never played Slovakia before but Kozak believes his side can benefit from their experience of playing British opposition.

He said: "It is good that we have played recently against teams from the British Isles like [Northern] Ireland, Republic of Ireland, Wales and England because their type of play is similar and the only difference is the quality of players.

"They love football, they play with great enthusiasm and it will be an interesting match for us and the fans.

"Scotland is stronger as a team rather than individual players and whether you play them at home or away it is not going to be an easy game.''

With England top of the group with six points from two games and heavy favourites to win the section, forward Slovakia Robert Mak accepts the best chance of reaching Russia is a second-placed finish good enough to provide entry to the play-offs.

He said: "All the players were upset by the defeat in Slovenia but we will try to forget the last match and we will take nothing else but a victory tomorrow.

"The manager will prepare us as best as possible and we hope we can do it tomorrow and at least be contenders for the play-off.''

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