diff --git a/p2p/message.go b/p2p/message.go
index 14e4404c9..e7e6af287 100644
--- a/p2p/message.go
+++ b/p2p/message.go
@@ -208,3 +208,35 @@ func (p *MsgPipeRW) Close() error {
 	close(p.closing)
 	return nil
 }
+
+// ExpectMsg reads a message from r and verifies that its
+// code and encoded RLP content match the provided values.
+// If content is nil, the payload is discarded and not verified.
+func ExpectMsg(r MsgReader, code uint64, content interface{}) error {
+	msg, err := r.ReadMsg()
+	if err != nil {
+		return err
+	}
+	if msg.Code != code {
+		return fmt.Errorf("message code mismatch: got %d, expected %d", msg.Code, code)
+	}
+	if content == nil {
+		return msg.Discard()
+	} else {
+		contentEnc, err := rlp.EncodeToBytes(content)
+		if err != nil {
+			panic("content encode error: " + err.Error())
+		}
+		if int(msg.Size) != len(contentEnc) {
+			return fmt.Errorf("message size mismatch: got %d, want %d", msg.Size, len(contentEnc))
+		}
+		actualContent, err := ioutil.ReadAll(msg.Payload)
+		if err != nil {
+			return err
+		}
+		if !bytes.Equal(actualContent, contentEnc) {
+			return fmt.Errorf("message payload mismatch:\ngot:  %x\nwant: %x", actualContent, contentEnc)
+		}
+	}
+	return nil
+}
diff --git a/p2p/peer_test.go b/p2p/peer_test.go
index cc9f1f0cd..626dfd00f 100644
--- a/p2p/peer_test.go
+++ b/p2p/peer_test.go
@@ -192,35 +192,3 @@ func TestNewPeer(t *testing.T) {
 
 	p.Disconnect(DiscAlreadyConnected) // Should not hang
 }
-
-// expectMsg reads a message from r and verifies that its
-// code and encoded RLP content match the provided values.
-// If content is nil, the payload is discarded and not verified.
-func expectMsg(r MsgReader, code uint64, content interface{}) error {
-	msg, err := r.ReadMsg()
-	if err != nil {
-		return err
-	}
-	if msg.Code != code {
-		return fmt.Errorf("message code mismatch: got %d, expected %d", msg.Code, code)
-	}
-	if content == nil {
-		return msg.Discard()
-	} else {
-		contentEnc, err := rlp.EncodeToBytes(content)
-		if err != nil {
-			panic("content encode error: " + err.Error())
-		}
-		if int(msg.Size) != len(contentEnc) {
-			return fmt.Errorf("message size mismatch: got %d, want %d", msg.Size, len(contentEnc))
-		}
-		actualContent, err := ioutil.ReadAll(msg.Payload)
-		if err != nil {
-			return err
-		}
-		if !bytes.Equal(actualContent, contentEnc) {
-			return fmt.Errorf("message payload mismatch:\ngot:  %x\nwant: %x", actualContent, contentEnc)
-		}
-	}
-	return nil
-}