Scotland v Northern Ireland: NI have 'everything to gain' from playing teams like Scots - Michael O'Neill

Northern Ireland manager Michael O'Neill says his side have "everything to gain" from facing opposition of the standard of Euro 2024-bound Scotland.

"It'll be a real test for us. They're a good side, a very experienced team at international level," said O'Neill.

"They've been together a long time, worked with the manager [Steve Clarke] a long time. We are young in age and young in experience.

"Our oldest player [Stevenage striker Jamie Reid] made his debut in Romania [a 1-1 draw on Friday] and it's still a big situation for Jamie at 29 to have to deal with that."

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'Ready for these type of nights'

Scotland's winless run extended to six games with a 4-0 humbling by the Netherlands on Friday but that sequence, which has seen them concede 18 goals, includes defeats by European heavyweights France and England, plus a Euro qualifier loss against Spain.

The Scots finished four points behind Spain in Group A to ensure qualification for this summer's finals in Germany.

"They've had successful times which always breeds for a really positive camp. They're coming off a result which I felt was quite harsh on them. I thought they had a good performance [against the Dutch] but they'll be hurting from that.

"The players have to be ready for these types of nights, need to be ready to play two back-to-back internationals, both away from home, against good teams and be able to lift the performance, not just in the first game but play well in the second game. The recovery process, everything like that is vitally important.

"But I think for us we have everything to gain. We'll have bumps along the road with this group of players and they will learn from that as well.

"I think we learned from the game in Finland [a 4-0 loss in November] where we had a very young side and yet we turned it around in a few days and beat Denmark. That showed a lot of their character and hopefully we can have another positive night tomorrow."

'Building momentum'

Defender Daniel Ballard returns to the squad after the birth of his son but Ross McCausland, Jamal Lewis and George Saville remain unavailable after missing the draw with Romania, while Dion Charles is struggling with an injury.

Ballard told BBC Sport NI he was happy to link up with the squad for the game in Glasgow.

"Any opportunity to play for Northern Ireland is one I cherish. It was hard leaving him [baby Colby] but I'll be rushing home after the game and hopefully after a good result," said the Sunderland defender.

"It's a young team we have. That probably showed in the last qualifying campaign but we have had a few positive results since then. It's about building that momentum, gaining that experience and turning that chemistry off the pitch onto the pitch and getting good results.

"The lads are confident from the Romania game but Scotland will have that little bit more quality so we are going to have to lift our game again.

"Even though it's only a friendly we haven't prepared any differently and it doesn't feel like that. We'll go toe-to-toe with them."