Northern Ireland manager Lawrie Sanchez believes it is vital for his side to get off to a winning start when they host Iceland on Saturday in a Euro 2008 qualifier.

With a match to follow against Spain four days later Sanchez is aware how important the opening game is.

Northern Ireland go into the fixture boosted by a warm-up victory against Finland in Helsinki.

They are also 34 places ahead of Iceland in the Fifa world rankings. Sanchez is quietly confident ahead of the game at Windsor Park.

"The fans will expect us to win and if we're going to do anything (in the group) we should do.

"Then we face Spain and it is one of those games where anything gained in that match will be considered a bonus.

"We know on our day that we can compete with the big boys if not beat them.

"All we have to do is make sure we are beating the smaller nations.

"That was shown with the result against Finland and Estonia who are both around us in the rankings.

"Those are the teams we need to beat."