ALEX McLeish has urged the uncapped players in his first Scotland squad since returning as manager to seize the chance that has been given to them in the friendlies against Costa Rica tonight and Hungary on Wednesday.

There are now 10 players who could receive their first international cap in the matches after Celtic’s Jack Hendy was drafted in as a late replacement when Kieran Tierney and Russell Martin withdrew through injury.

McLeish says that the opportunity is there for the younger players within the squad to push their way into his thinking for when the serious business of qualifying for Euro 2020 kicks off in September.

“A lot of them have already been at this level,” said McLeish.

“But there will be an introduction of younger players and my message to them is ‘go for it.’

"There could be three or four playing against Costa Rica but we will try to pick a team to beat Costa Rica.

“The gauntlet is down. Go and seize your chance.”

The 59-year-old McLeish has seen pretty much everything there is to see at international level, with 77 caps to his name as a player and a year in charge of the national side back in 2007, but he admits to having butterflies in his stomach ahead of walking out at Hampden once more.

“You never don’t get nervous,” he said. “I am full of anticipation. There is adrenaline there. What if we get beat here? I try not to think of those things. I am more experienced now.

“I will look for the boys to give their best. To get a result, a victory, would be a great start. But we will still analyse things that we feel we need to improve on. That is the whole exercise of these games coming up.

“It is like starting again. I have been out of the game for a couple of years, I did a couple of stints abroad, I don’t have too shabby a record in England. I feel I am better equipped, have a little bit more common sense and can apply that as much as possible.”