The Republic of Ireland U21s complete their UEFA Championship qualifying campaign at home to Serbia tomorrow (KO 5.45pm) and manager Noel King expects a difficult challenge if they are to finish on a winning note.
His team have only lost one game at home, to table toppers Italy, and will look for their fifth win of the campaign when they host the Serbians at the RSC in Waterford.
Ireland sit in fourth place on 12 points, but require a win and two heavy losses for Slovenia to finish the qualifying in third position.
Serbia won the FIFA U20 World Championships in New Zealand last year beating Brazil 2-1 in the final but Ireland were unfortunate not to come away with at least draw away in the Novi Sad last month, going down 3-2 to the Serbs in a thrilling encounter.
"Everything has gone well since we met up on Tuesday. The boys have all trained well and are all looking forward to this game. I feel that the players are anxious to have a go at Serbia," said King.
"Obviously Serbia are a very highly regarded side and have lots of talent so it'll be a tough task but even so we will go into this game in a positive manner.
"In our last game in Waterford against Slovenia we were very good in most aspects both in an attacking and defensive sense and we deserved a 2-0 win. We then went to Serbia and maintained that level of performance, scored twice and felt we deserved a result but unfortunately were narrowly beaten.
"We feel we can produce another good performance against a top ranked side and we'll see what happens from there. We're not lacking for motivation and we won't lack for desire.”
King was also keen to stress the importance of the match for the development of the young squad.
"There's 10 players with this group that are eligible for the next campaign so we'll will be looking forward to them building on the experience they've gained in recent months,” he said.
“We're also happy to have the likes of Alan Browne back around the place and the other experienced players like Tommy Hoban and Darragh Lenihan mixing in. Courtney Duffus has also been an asset and we're pleased to have him with us again.
"However, it's not about the individuals but how the whole group responds."
