Defender Mikey Devlin reckons Scotland can reap the rewards going forward from his Pittodrie partnership with Scott McKenna.

Devlin has played in both of Scotland's last two matches - making his international bow in the 4-0 loss to Russia and helping Steve Clarke's side ease to a clean sheet in the 6-0 thrashing of San Marino.

The 26-year-old partnered Wigan's Charlie Mulgrew at the back for the Moscow defeat and then Kilmarnock's Stuart Findlay during the San Marino rout.

But in the upcoming games against Cyprus and Kazakhstan Devlin is likely to play alongside a more familiar face, with Dons teammate McKenna expected to return to the 11 after a stint on the sidelines.

He said: "If we're selected to play, hopefully we can use the fact that we know each other well on and off the pitch and can complement each other to give a good foundation to the team.

"It would be silly to look ahead to March, there is a lot of club football to be played between now and then with opportunity to change.

"But if we're given the opportunity to play the two of us would be confident we could get the job done.

"There is a familiarity there with a partnership that has grown since the start of last season.

"At times we've not had the opportunities to play together as much as we'd like due to injuries.

"But we're excited by that opportunity to play together, we room together and spend a lot of time together so I'm excited by the prospect of that."

Scotland are short of options in defence after skipper Andy Robertson, Kieran Tierney, Liam Cooper and Mulgrew joined the list of absentees for the upcoming double-header.

Motherwell's Declan Gallacher and Hibs youngster Ryan Porteous have been called up this time out, though, ensuring Devlin refuses to take his spot for granted.

"Nobody has the right to assume they'll be in the team," he added.

"I've got to do my own job first and that is train hard and train well to prove to the manager I should be in the team.

"Big Dec has been brilliant for Motherwell so whichever two centre-backs are picked I'm sure we'll do fine.

"Players come and go but that's international football.

"Everyone is desperate to be here and desperate to get this country to a major internationals.

"These two games can help us prepare to hopefully get there so what an exciting time.

"I want to be a part of that and be successful."