Boss Scot Gemmill will purposely target tough tests for his new-look Scotland Under-21 side.
The 45-year-old former Nottingham Forest and Everton midfielder took over from Ricky Sbragia in September after a 4-0 defeat in Ukraine ended qualification hopes for Euro 2017.
Gemmill, who stepped up from overseeing Scotland's under-17 and under-19 teams, lost to Iceland and Macedonia in the final two Group Three fixtures with a revamped squad.
Read more: Morton's Jai Quitongo raring to go after being called up to Scotland U21s
Scotland finished fifth in a six-team section after winning just two of their 10 matches and the new era continues against Slovakia Under-21s in a friendly at the Myjava Stadium on Wednesday.
Gemmill said: "It is another really tough game, playing against a team which has qualified for the finals.
"The Slovakia team have had a really excellent qualification campaign but at the same time it is a game that we have consciously chosen to really test our players.
"I think it's what definitely what helps our players progress and they need to play, they need to show they can play at this level against top opposition who are going to the finals.
"So it is something we have done on purpose."
Morton forward Jai Quitongo, Celtic goalkeeper Ross Doohan and Hamilton Academical striker Eamonn Brophy were given their first call-ups in a young squad with Ayr United's Alan Forrest a late draftee.
Gemmill said: "I wouldn't use the word experiment but it's definitely a time that we need to maximise in terms of looking at the squad, looking at the players and working towards the games next year.
"But at the same time making sure we get something out of it, trying to get everything coming together in terms of the cohesion of the team, the players, the staff.
"There is a lot (that) goes into it behind the scenes so everyone is working really hard just to get to the next level."
Why are you making commenting on The Herald only available to subscribers?
It should have been a safe space for informed debate, somewhere for readers to discuss issues around the biggest stories of the day, but all too often the below the line comments on most websites have become bogged down by off-topic discussions and abuse.
heraldscotland.com is tackling this problem by allowing only subscribers to comment.
We are doing this to improve the experience for our loyal readers and we believe it will reduce the ability of trolls and troublemakers, who occasionally find their way onto our site, to abuse our journalists and readers. We also hope it will help the comments section fulfil its promise as a part of Scotland's conversation with itself.
We are lucky at The Herald. We are read by an informed, educated readership who can add their knowledge and insights to our stories.
That is invaluable.
We are making the subscriber-only change to support our valued readers, who tell us they don't want the site cluttered up with irrelevant comments, untruths and abuse.
In the past, the journalist’s job was to collect and distribute information to the audience. Technology means that readers can shape a discussion. We look forward to hearing from you on heraldscotland.com
Comments & Moderation
Readers’ comments: You are personally liable for the content of any comments you upload to this website, so please act responsibly. We do not pre-moderate or monitor readers’ comments appearing on our websites, but we do post-moderate in response to complaints we receive or otherwise when a potential problem comes to our attention. You can make a complaint by using the ‘report this post’ link . We may then apply our discretion under the user terms to amend or delete comments.
Post moderation is undertaken full-time 9am-6pm on weekdays, and on a part-time basis outwith those hours.
Read the rules here