Wednesday 25 March 2015 21:08, UK
Northern Ireland manager Michael O'Neill wants to use Wednesday's friendly with Scotland to give more young players the chance they have the ability to compete at the top level.
O'Neill has seen several young players come to the fore during an impressive start to a European Championship qualifying campaign which has seen them pick up nine points from four matches courtesy of wins in Hungary and Greece.
O'Neill's side host Finland in their next qualifier on Sunday, but first make the trip to Hampden Park and O'Neill is looking forward to the added frisson of a home nations friendly.
"It will be a good test for us because, often with a friendly international, it can be a little bit low key," he said.
"We have had a couple of those in the last few years and didn't get very much out of them. I think we will get a lot out of this game.
"The nature of it being Scotland-Northern Ireland will add to that as well and hopefully a big crowd at Hampden. Hampden is still an iconic stadium for our lads to get the opportunity to play at as well.
"So I think it will be of huge benefit to us. For some of our younger players, it will be a huge game for them to be tested in that environment and it will be an opportunity for me to see how they respond to that.
"We went to South America in the summer and played against Uruguay and Chile and, off the back of that, we found Conor McLaughlin for example, who has established himself at right-back, and we found Luke McCullough, who has come in and been part of the squad. This is an opportunity for other players to stake their claim.
"It's an opportunity for us to look at a couple of things from a tactical point of view, and an opportunity to give players who have not played very much football recently at club level, but are key players for us at international level, and an opportunity to introduce some of the younger players as well.
"But the main focus is that we get through the game, we have a good performance, and it sets us up nicely for the game on Sunday."
Watch Scotland v Northern Ireland live on Sky Sports 1 and Sky Sports 5 from 7.30pm on Wednesday, March 25.
