Given stresses the need to win

SOCCER:THE SEASON had already been one of morale-sapping frustration for Shay Given as he found himself relegated to the position of Joe Harte's understudy at Manchester City, but when he injured his shoulder last month in the warm-up for an Europa League game that, he said yesterday, "topped it off".

The injury, which required surgery, brought an end to Given’s season, and on Saturday, rather than earning his 111th cap, he will be on punditry duty in England for the Republic of Ireland’s Euro 2012 qualifier against Macedonia.

“I’ll be wishing the lads well, it’s a huge game for us,” he said when he spoke to RTÉ yesterday from Abu Dhabi, where he is on a promotional trip for his club.

“Hopefully I won’t jump up in the middle of doing the studio thing, I’ll be trying to keep some form of a professional head on, but I was an Irish fan before I was a player, and I’m still a fan now. It’s imperative that we get the right result, please God we do.”

His recovery, he said, is going well, and he is hopeful that he will be back in time for Ireland’s game away to Macedonia in June.

“I was with a specialist in London last week and he was extremely happy with how it’s going, he told me to up the rehabilitation and strength work, so I’m happy with that. But, of course, it’s all extremely frustrating, I’ve had one of those seasons, I haven’t played enough games and to top it off I’ve got injured as well – when I wasn’t even playing.

“But this is football, you’ve got to get your head down and not feel sorry for yourself. Just work hard and hope that your chance will come. You just have to try and be positive. And injuries are just part of football as well, you have to mentally deal with that side of things.”

Coventry City’s Keiren Westwood is likely to be Given’s replacement on Saturday, the 26-year-old having been the Donegalman’s understudy since he joined the squad in 2008. “I think the goalkeeping position is in safe hands on Saturday, I’ve been very impressed with Keiren the last couple of years. There are lots of different clubs looking at him, I think his contract’s up this summer and he’s going to make a move to a bigger club than Coventry. It’s a good game for him on Saturday, the whole nation will be behind him and the team.

“It won’t be easy, though, we know that. There was a time Macedonia would have been an easy three points, people wouldn’t even have thought about it, but every nation has improved over recent years. But if we want to qualify we have to win on Saturday.”