WALES assistant manager Roy Evans does not accept that his side will be the underdogs against Northern Ireland at Windsor Park on Saturday, even if the World Cup qualification table tells a different story.

Wales, who are currently bottom of Group Six with two points, can't catch their hosts who have already amassed nine points thanks to back to back wins over Azerbaijan and England last month.

The Northern Irish victory over England especially seems to have galvanised both the players and supporters, but Evans believes Wales to be more than a match for them.

He explained: "Obviously Northern Ireland are full of confidence after two wins on the bounce, but if you look at their game with England and our game with England, it could just as easily have been Wales who got that result. They will consider themselves as favourites, which they are entitled to do, but we'll go there confident ourselves.

"Northern Ireland play to put you under pressure and to make it harder for you on the ball and if you're not slick with your passing they'll catch you out, but our passing has been good recently.

"The only thing that puts them ahead of us in terms of the progress we are making is that they have managed to win two games, something we've been unable to do.

"However, we feel we are on a par with them at least, the only difference is that they are more confident."

Evans is expecting a tough afternoon in Belfast, but admits that despite once again having huge injury problems, boss John Toshack may yet decide to change his tactics - in favour of a more caviller approach.

"It is not just about the points for us because at this stage points are irrelevant, what we need to do is to win for winning's sake, we need to develop a winning mentality and to score a few goals, because with the players we have we should always be able to do that.

"John always makes clear that we will be flexible in how we play, obviously for the tough games with England and Poland we've played the system (5-4-1) but this game and the next may give us an opportunity to be a bit more direct."

Robert Page, Jason Koumas, Craig Bellamy and Rob Edwards are all out for the game and are unlikely to feature against Azerbaijan at the Millennium Stadium on Wednesday, while Danny Gabbidon misses out as he is suspended. However, Mark Delaney and Simon Davies have both reported for duty.