BARRY FERGUSON has urged Scotland to believe in themselves as they head to Bari tomorrow.

Alex McLeish's side face the Italians after securing another three points and keeping the Euro 2008 dream alive thanks to Craig Beattie's late winner against Georgia.

Ferguson is adamant that anything is possible as Scotland prepare to take on the Italians on Wednesday night.

"We've certainly got character - there are a lot of experienced guys. Big characters, guys who have played at the highest level, Champions League and international games," said the midfielder.

"I've no worries about us handling Italy. It's the most difficult group when you look at it.

"France, Italy and Ukraine were at the World Cup ,and Georgia are a decent team as you saw on Saturday. Lithuania are getting better, so we'll do ever so well if we qualify.

"But you can feel the belief in everybody as the game approaches.

"The atmosphere around the place is like a club, all the guys get on great with one another.

"You can see on the park that everybody fights for each other."

Italy coach Roberto Donadoni is already under pressure after just six matches, following a poor start to their own qualifying campaign.

And Ferguson believes Scotland can turn the Azzurri's own fans against their team by frustrating Italy early on.

He said: "If we keep the first 20 minutes tight then the Italian fans will get on their backs.

"Italy will start to feel a wee bit pressure. That could work out to our advantage.

"They've got to win but we've got no fears now, going over there. I'd like to think we could have a go at them.

"I would rather have a decent go and come away beaten, rather than sitting back and getting stuffed."

Ferguson picked up a silly booking at the weekend when he was shown the yellow card for throwing the ball away.

He was unperturbed by that however, and despite knowing that Scotland were a little lucky to come away with three points at the weekend, Ferguson has his eye on qualifying from what is a demanding group.

"I was just trying to waste time," he admitted with regards to the booking. "I looked at the clock and it was 90 minutes. And the foreign guys get away with it, don't they?

"I'm not bothered, the main thing was we got a result. We knew in the dressing room we had got the three points and it would go a long way to helping us qualify.

"Okay, it wasn't a great performance but how many times do you come away from Hampden and say: We've done well but we didn't get the right result'?

"It was a good performance all round - it wasn't great, but I think we deserved the win."