Welsh wowed by Bale but will do due diligence on Scotland's top performers, too

"I don't remember an awful lot about that game, but it was a very friendly friendly and I am expecting it to be a bit more feisty on Friday," said Symons. "It would have been a good atmosphere anyway, but with it being Gordon's first competitive game, it will be absolutely electric. We wouldn't be surprised if there were a couple of surprises."

If there has been a bullishness emanating from the valleys in the last few days, they do at least have the statistics to back it up. Symons, after all, is hardly alone in players of his generation having tasted success in this fixture; Wales have won five of their last seven against Scotland, with our last victory on home soil coming in 1984.

Symons, who shares his role on Chris Coleman's staff with a position as academy manager at Fulham, gushes as enthusiastically as anyone about the abilities of Gareth Bale, even if former team-mate Ryan Giggs shades the direct comparison. But he also thinks the best thing Scotland could do – from Wales' point of view – is gang up on the Tottenham player, because such a tactic would leave Strachan's side wide open for Aaron Ramsey and Craig Bellamy et al to exploit.

"If you have Gareth Bale, no matter what country in the world you are, you are going to count your blessings," said Symons. "He is up there with the best players in the world so we are very lucky, but we are lucky with the whole group of players we have got. We haven't got the most players but we have now got some genuine quality.

"Where Gareth will end up is anyone's guess because he is an fantastic player now. Just when you thought he couldn't get any better, he has, so what is to say he can't get better again? Because he is in such a rich vein of form, teams are doubling up or tripling up on him, but if they do that we are able to exploit that with other players."

There is confidence coursing through this Welsh group and their general demeanour is a far cry from the state they were in prior to last October's match. Possessing such excellent players puts a premium on converting their abilities into results, and Symons recalled that it could quite easily have been Chris Coleman, and not Craig Levein, who was out of a job after that tie.

"The last time it was tough times for both of us in the group," said Symons. "It was a massive monkey off our back to get our first win. Quite often, it is the minute details, the little decisions, or the rub of the green that goes your way that makes all the difference. It could have been very different. But on the night we thought we played well and were thankful it went our way.

"We all go into this business understanding how ruthless it can be but nobody wanted to see Craig lose his job. He was a lovely fellow but you know it is going to happen at some stage. One side of it is us getting a great win, being euphoric almost, and the other side of it is people losing their job."

With new faces such as George Boyd, Gary Mackay-Steven and Liam Bridcutt among the Scotland contingent, the Wales staff need all the scouting help they can get, and Celtic's Joe Ledley can be a valuable mine of information. Ledley will earn his 45th cap tomorrow and has been a valuable contributor in recent matches. "Joe will certainly be one who will understand the atmosphere and can pass on some of his knowledge," said Symons. "We haven't asked for information yet, but we will do to get as much as we can. Knowledge is power so we will certainly do our homework."

One member of the Welsh squad who will also have a head start on that front is Sam Vokes. After all, the Burnley striker modelled his game on Steven Fletcher, studying the Scot while they were together at Wolverhampton Wanderers.

The 23-year-old target man has emerged as a contender to start tomorrow after scoring against Austria last time out and, while he feels Fletcher will be Scotland's main attacking threat, he will travel north with no inferiority complex. "I always thought Steven would get a big move," said Vokes, who caught the eye of Celtic in 2007-08 while at Bournemouth. "He was someone I looked up to at Wolves. He was flying in a team that ended up relegated and scored a lot of goals. He is a similar sort of player to me and someone we need to look out, because he is sharp in the box. "

Scotland players might be Vokes' specialist subject given that, in addition to training-ground encounters with Christophe Berra, his loan spells brought him into contact with Robert Snodgrass and Liam Bridcutt. However, he is also an expert witness on Bale.

"Gareth was different class in October, but I think he has got even better since," said Vokes. "He hasn't got a 'Billy big time' attitude at all, he is very grounded. In training he is an unbelievable talent and I can't remember the last time he had a bad game."