SAMMY Clingan says he knows he must put everything into playing for both his club and country this season.

Glenn Roeder's first signing of the summer months, Clingan has been ever-present during the opening weeks of the 2008-09 campaign.

As well as a successful start at Norwich, the Belfast-born player was also named in Nigel Worthington's Northern Ireland squad yesterday for the forthcoming World Cup qualifiers against Slovakia and group favourites the Czech Republic.

Clingan hopes to help his country emulate Billy Bingham's 1982 and 1986 World Cup squads and reach the finals of a major tournament - but insists he needs to impress in Norwich's midfield to stay involved.

"I know here I'll have to perform week in week out or I'll be out of the side," he told the Eastern Daily Press. "I prefer to be kept on my toes otherwise if you feel you will be picked every week you can tend to take things for granted and relax. I wanted to test myself at a higher level and I think there is a difference in the standard when you play in the Championship. You face better players and better teams but I'm enjoying it.

"Playing with someone like Fozzy is great for me. He's a good talker on the pitch and I think we can get a good understanding going but there are a lot of good midfielders here."

The 24-year-old is looking forward to facing Birmingham this weekend. "They are a great side and they've showed that early doors.  I fancied them in the summer to get straight back up. They've got the Premiership quality and they can also go and spend money on the squad, but we are looking forward to it at our place.

"After the last few results we just need to go one better now and pick up that first win.

"It has been frustrating because you want to get that first one under your belt so you are up and running but I know we have a lot of good players here.

"Not just the lads who came in over the summer, but those who have been here a couple of years before that. It was going to take a while to gel but we have that quality in the squad."

Clingan is sure that City can take heart from a battling comeback at Cardiff - the Northern Irishman was a central character in the penalty award that put the Bluebirds 2-0 up before Arturo Lupoli's late brace.

"It was a bit harsh but that is how the ref sees it," he said. "I've still got a bit of a dead leg from where he came across me in the penalty box. The ref has to make a decision but we think that was a great point to come from two goals down.

"Ninian Park is a tough place to go. Not many teams will get points there. It's always been like that. I don't know why - maybe because of the fact it's quite an old stadium now that teams don't enjoy playing there but we came off the pitch delighted."

Clingan will join Worthington's squad after this weekend's Birmingham game for his country's World Cup double header. The midfielder said he detects a growing mood of optimism following an impressive European Championship qualifying campaign in a group that featured eventual tournament winners Spain.

"There's lots of confidence we can go one better this time," he said. "We showed in the Euros that we can compete with the likes of Spain, Sweden and Denmark. We have the quality to take it to the next level. We definitely have a chance.

"It's not just the Czechs and the Poles in our group. Teams like Slovakia will be no pushovers. I think the manager was quite happy with the way the fixtures were decided but we know our away form is the key.

"We need to put that right. We drew a friendly in Scotland the other week. We tried a different formation and that was a good start. The Czechs will be tough as they are a big team but it's something we are looking forward to."