Aberdeen forward Niall McGinn says Scotland will be in for a difficult 90 minutes when they take on a rejuvenated Northern Ireland at Hampden next week.
Scotland have made great strides since Gordon Strachan came to the helm but their Northern Irish counterparts are also enjoying a purple patch under Michael O’Neill.
Northern Ireland have made a blistering start to their World Cup qualifying campaign and sit second behind Romania in Group F after taking nine points form their opening four matches.
Only four spots separate the two countries in the Fifa world rankings and Dons forward McGinn reckons his team will head into the match feeling confident.
McGinn said: “Things have been going great. We have a great team spirit and all the guys get on really well.
“We are a small country and we don’t have a massive population to choose from.
“We have a few guys playing in the English Premier League and English Championship but most countries have players from the top leagues.
“However, we have a good team spirit and if you have 11 players pushing in the one direction then anything can happen.
“I think on our night in front of a full Windsor Park we would probably beat most teams.
“The friendly is a game for Scotland and ourselves to look forward to away from the Euro 2016 qualifiers.
“It is always good to play one of the home nations and it would be great to play at Hampden again if I get the chance. It will also be a good warm-up for the Finland game and we just want to keep that momentum going.
“The main concern for myself is to keep concentrating on my club form then the international games will take care of themselves when they come around.”
While McGinn is keen to earn the bragging rights over team-mate Mark Reynolds, who is in the Scotland squad, the attacker knows Northern Ireland’s main concern is keeping their France 2016 hopes on track with a win against Finland a week on Sunday.
He added: “It is just great to be part of the Northern Ireland squad. We have started the campaign very well.
“If you are looking at the table now then you would say the next two games are the most important ones.
“We have two home games against Finland in March and Romania in June.
“If we were to get maximum points from them then that would be unbelievable and would set us up nicely for the rest of the group.
“We know there is still a long way to go and we can’t get carried away with things but it would be unbelievable if we could qualify for Euro 2016.”