SCOTLAND Under-21 boss Billy Stark believes Georgia will provide unpredictable opponents in the wake of their six-goal mauling at the hands of group leaders the Netherlands in midweek.
The young Scots fly out to Tbilisi today for tomorrow's Group 3 encounter in European Championship qualifying buoyed by a fine win against their Slovakian counterparts in Paisley on Thursday night.
Yet as demoralising as the heavy defeat to the Dutch must have been for their hosts - captain Nika Kvekveskiri was dismissed and will earn a suspension - it makes it rather more difficult for Stark and the remainder of the backroom staff to second guess their line-up.
One-time wonderkid Jano Ananidze, a former team-mate of Aiden McGeady's at Spartak Moscow but now of Rostov, is the star turn, but Stark's side need not be overawed: they currently stand in second place in their section, with the 10 group winners and four best runners-up qualifying for a play-off place.
"It is a difficult one to predict now, because they had been pretty consistent in terms of the teams that they have played," said Stark. "They made only one change for the game on Thursday, but how does the coach respond to that? Does he wipe everybody out?
"Their captain in the middle of the park got sent off, so he won't be available, but I still expect a tough game," he added.
"Our Under-17s played there about a year ago or so and I think I am right in saying there were about 14,000 or so over there.
"It is a big football nation, and we are playing in the main stadium in Tbilisi so I expect to them to respond to that result on Thursday, but we will ask our players to respond as well.
"If you win your home games in this tournament, you are just looking for one or two results away from home. That is why it was really important for us to win against Slovakia."
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