BARRY Bannan believes Scotland's morale-boosting victory over Gibraltar on Sunday has set them up nicely for their crunch Euro 2016 qualifier against the Republic of Ireland in June.

The Wanderers loanee came off the bench to earn his 20th international cap at Hampden Park and went close to scoring his first goal for his country late in the 6-1 triumph.

His immediate aim now is to help the Whites end the Championship season positively, starting with a clash against his former club Blackpool at the Macron Stadium on Saturday.

But the 25-year-old's spell away with Gordon Strachan's squad has whetted his appetite for June's trip to Dublin.

Bannan told BBC Scotland: "It's a massive game.

"This [Gibraltar] was just all about getting the three points and getting a couple of goals as well.

"We're just looking forward to this Ireland game now.

"We know in that dressing-room we've got enough to go over there and win."

The Scots sit level with Germany on 10 points in Group D – just a point behind leaders Poland and two ahead of the Irish.

But what turned out to be a comfortable evening in Glasgow on Sunday did not start that way as their unfancied opponents shocked them with an equaliser almost immediately after falling behind.

Bannan believes that first competitive goal for Gibraltar shocked Scotland into life on the night.

He added: "We've come out the other end winning the game like we should have.

"You just want to win the game comprehensively and I think after they scored that shook us into life a little bit.

"They came here to frustrate us and it's a bit of a shock as we're not used to that.

"It probably took time to get used to the formation, get used to the way they were setting up.

"In the end, when we figured out how to get in behind and how to hurt them, we did well and it could have been more."

While Bannan was earning his 20th cap for Scotland, his Wanderers midfield colleague Neil Danns was picking up his first for Guyana in their 2-0 home friendly win against Grenada on Sunday.

Both players will now return to Lancashire to prepare for two matches in three days over the Easter weekend against Blackpool and then down at Cardiff City on Monday afternoon.