CAROLINE Weir believes Scotland will give a much better account of themselves in tonight's World Cup qualifier against Spain at Hampden. The visitors, who beat Weir's side 8-0 in Seville five months ago, will qualify for next year's finals in Australia and New Zealand if they collect the three points.

“This squad is in a better place than it was then,” Manchester City midfielder Weir said. “Physically we're in better shape as well. We know it's going to be tough and they'll have a lot of the ball, but there are areas we can exploit.

“As a top team we talk about all the things they're good at, but there are ways you can hurt them and that's what we've been working on in training. We can definitely get something from the game and it would be a massive statement if we could beat them.”

Weir, who says the players have no regrets over their ticketing row with the Scottish FA last week, scored the goal when Scotland beat Spain 1-0 at Euro 2017 to notch their first-ever major championship win. She has plenty of motivation to repeat that, because as well as the heavy defeat to Spain in November she has been on the wrong end of Champions League exits from both Barcelona and Real Madrid at club level.

Despite the players' stated reservations about how the tickets were being sold, the indications are that there will be a good crowd at Hampden, although not one that is expected to beat the women's record of 18,555 for the World Cup send-off game against Jamaica in 2019.

“There's no better inspiration than driving up to Hampden, then arriving and walking out on to the pitch,” Weir, who also scored in the 3-2 win over Jamaica said. “Playing in front of our own supporters will get the players fired up.”