David Kerslake insists Nottingham Forest will approach tonight's prestige friendly against the Republic of Ireland 'B' side as though league points were at stake.

The Reds have flown to Ireland to prepare for the game at Dalymount Park in Dublin (kick-off 7.30pm).

With manager Colin Calderwood on a fact-finding mission in China ahead of next summer's pre-season trip, first team coach Kerslake will take charge of the team for the friendly.

And he told us: "We will be up against players who are either in the full squad, or on the fringes of it, so they are going to be high-quality players.

"It will be a tough test for us but our players are looking forward to it.

"We can have a look at our team shape and we realise we need to score more goals and this is another chance to try and do just that.

"Irish boys tend to be pretty aggressive and competitive so we know we're going to have to combat that but we're not going out there to take part in a training game for them.

"We'll be going with the same attitude as though it were a Championship game.

"We'll be looking to keep a clean sheet because it's driving everyone at the club nuts that we're conceding goals.

"But we want to go there and acquit ourselves in the way Nottingham Forest should."

Forest World will have full commentary on tonight's game, along with reaction from the Forest camp after the final whistle and match highlights.