American Football: Tynes tees up Giants for trip to Super Bowl

(Jed Jacobsohn/Getty Images)

Scottish-born Lawrence Tynes kicked the New York Giants into next month's Super Bowl after a thrilling 23-20 play-off win against Green Bay Packers.

Tynes, a Celtic fan, made up for two misses in the closing stages of regulation time by kicking a decisive 47-yard field goal with 12 minutes and 25 seconds to play in overtime. It secured a 23-20 win at Lambeau Field. The Greenock-born 29- year-old said: "I screwed it up twice. Thank God we got another opportunity."

The victory in the NFC championship game sent the Giants into a meeting with the undefeated New England Patriots in Super Bowl XLII on 3 February at Glendale, Arizona, where they will hope to avenge a 38-35 defeat to the Patriots in the final game of the regular season.

"Our team has the heart, there's no question about it, these guys are something," said the Giants coach, Tom Coughlin. "They play hard, they never say die and they found the way to win."

The unbeaten Patriots advanced to their fourth Super Bowl in seven seasons after seeing off the San Diego Chargers 21-12 in the AFC Championship Game to become the first team in NFL history to win 18 consecutive games in a season.