Michael O'Neill has revealed that he will give some of his younger players a chance to earn a regular place in the team when Northern Ireland face Scotland in a friendly later this week.
The team have made a strong start to their Euro 2016 qualifying, with three wins from their first four matches of the campaign leaving them second in the table.
The coach told reporters: "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."
Northern Ireland host Finland in their next qualifier on Sunday.
Sian Cowper
