Kenny Cunningham reckons the Republic of Ireland are ready to put their Euro 2004 qualifying campaign back on track with a trip into eastern Europe.
The Irish lost both their opening qualifiers, away to Russia and at home to Switzerland, but have a chance to get some points on the board with matches against Georgia today and Albania on Wednesday.
There have, of course, been major changes to the set-up since those defeats last year, as Mick McCarthy has been replaced as manager by Brian Kerr.
But one thing that has not changed is Cunningham captaining the team, and the Birmingham City defender is ready to lead the players to what he hopes will be their first points of the campaign.
"I think we are ready," said Cunningham. "Everybody has said what needs to be said and it is just a case now of going on to the pitch and doing your job.
"It is a massive game but we cannot be too intimidated coming to a place like this.
"We'll pay them the respect they deserve, of course we will, but we can't forget that only nine months ago we were on the World Cup stage against some of the great footballing nations, going toe-to-toe with these teams, so we've got to take a lot of confidence from those experiences we had in the past.
"We must take that into the game and approach the game with some confidence, certainly not arrogance but confidence in our own ability, and our ability to go and actually win this game.
"We haven't got a huge distance to travel on to the Albania game and psychologically to go and pick up two positive results in such a short space of time, if we can pick up a paper in Dublin on Thursday and see ourselves within touching distance of those teams above us it can do a lot for us psychologically, particularly going into the games we have in the summer.
"We're all disappointed with our results in this tournament and our two opening results have given us a lot to do, but it is still there for us."
The Republic follow these matches against Georgia and Albania with another back-to-back challenge against the same teams on home soil in early June, and 31-year-old Cunningham, who will win his 45th cap in the Lokomotiv Stadium, insisted the players were right behind new coach Kerr.
"It won't be easy but if we look at these two games and obviously the following two games in Dublin it is an opportunity for us to develop some real momentum," added Cunningham.
"And, if after those games in the summer we can find ourselves within touching distance of the Russians and the Swiss going into our two games against them, it will give us a real opportunity of qualifying from this group.
"It is all about qualification for the major tournaments and I'm sure Brian will know that he is going to be judged by his results and his ability to take us to those major championships.
"We've got a big responsibility in that respect but the players are certainly behind him, they are enjoying the experience and we're looking forward to getting the results we need."
PA