Steven Naismith admits Scotland are just a 'warm-up act' for the Euros and says that should serve as an incentive for the next campaign.

Ahead of the friendlies against Italy and France, the Norwich forward is well aware that time is running out for many players to qualify for a major tournament.

Serving as part of the reparation for two sides with ambitions of winning the tournament means it's difficult for Scotland's players to put the pain of the qualification campaign out of their minds and Naismith conceded that it would have to act as a motivation for the squad in the future.

"That's the worst part of it," he said. "It's good to see the boys, meet up and get some good training in and test yourself against two world-class countries but we are the preparation.

"That's the massive disappointment.

"I think it's all the way back from the Georgia game that's been the biggest problem and everybody's just got to realise that this is the feeling of it you don't want to be doing it again when you're so close.

"When you've been in such a good position it's not great to be the warm-up act."

The 29-year-old also admitted that time was running out for a core group of Scotland players who won't have many more chances to reach a major finals.

"When you look at our squad the boys are of similar ages so it does actually hit home," he said.

"When you're younger you maybe think 'hard luck but we've not next year' whereas this is us now coming to the last few campaigns that you can be involved in. You do want to make a mark and get to one of the tournaments at least."