Northern Ireland manager Nigel Worthington has called on his young hopefuls to prove they have the ability to face world champions Italy in a friendly scheduled for June 6th

Worthington will oversee a ‘B’ international against Scotland at Clyde’s Broadwood Stadium next month. He will be giving youth a chance on May 6th with Celtic’s Pat McCourt the oldest in the group at 25.

McCourt’s team-mate Niall McGinn, also a former Derry City player, is included along with three other Scottish-based players - Andrew Little (Rangers), Scott Gibb (Stirling) and goalkeeper Jonny Tuffey (Partick Thistle).

Manchester United midfielder Corry Evans, brother of Jonny, steps up from the Under-21 side to join the 18-man squad.

“This match bridges the gap between the Under-21s and the seniors, which is a big jump,” said Worthington today. “It is an ideal opportunity for us to have a look at some fringe players and some young players. I do not see the point of including players that I know enough about.

“We want to keep pushing these young players through if we can and this will be good experience for them. It will be a hard-fought game, you would expect nothing less when two home nations meet.

“If they perform well against Scotland, they could well be in my thoughts to face Italy.

“I would expect one or two vacancies then as some senior players won’t be available through family commitments with having a short break this summer.”

Successive victories against Poland and Slovenia, have left Northern Ireland top of Group Three in the World Cup qualifiers, though they hold a one point lead over Slovakia who have two games in hand.

If qualification is to be achieved, Worthington knows he will need options and sees the blooding of young players is essential, not only to keep his established squad members on their toes but to ensure the youngsters are ready if called upon.

“It is my job to oversee the development of players all the way through from the schoolboys to the seniors,” he said. “I have got to keep an eye on all of them.

“With the coaches, we are trying to produce good players and the way to do that is by pushing kids into situations and seeing how they cope. I have been very pleased at what I have seen so far.”