Reid must prove he's fit to return to battle

EURO 2004 QUALIFYING/Team news: As Brian Kerr played down the doubts over Shay Given's fitness at the Ireland squad's Carrickmacross training base yesterday, the manager made it clear that tomorrow's game against the Irish under-21s in Dublin would go a long way towards deciding whether Steven Reid would be in contention to add to his tally of eight international caps over the next nine days.

Reid admits that he is not quite back to his sharpest yet after a season spent battling injury, but the Millwall midfielder insists that with another couple of days' training under his belt he could be back to his best.

In tomorrow's game, it seems, he may have to prove it.

"It's an important test for him," said Kerr, who added that while he is an admirer of the 22-year-old, he has yet to see him produce his best on the international stage.

"I think everybody's agreed that he's got a lot of potential that hasn't been fulfilled yet," said the Ireland manager.

"He's only been involved in two of the games since I took over, but I've certainly felt that he's looked a bit tentative when I've seen him playing for Ireland. Then you see him play for Millwall and it all looks a bit easy for him."

With Kerr having repeatedly stressed that he would like his team to be more positive in their home games, Reid's return would provide useful options on the right side of midfield.

But having missed so much of the club season and not played competitively in a couple of months, the bench may be the best the midfielder can aspire to over the week ahead.

"It's not really for me to say," said Reid. "I think that everybody who is in the squad would like to feel that they're in with a shout of featuring in the games and I'm no different. I've felt pretty good in training and I definitely think I could be 100 per cent by the weekend.

"But the decision isn't mine. I've just got to keep working hard and hope for the best."

Also somewhat beyond his control right now is his club career, with several English Premiership outfits, notably Blackburn Rovers, said to be interested in recruiting him from south London. But none, apparently, have yet made a firm offer for the versatile midfielder.

"I've seen a bit of speculation all right," he grinned when asked about the possibility of a move, "but so far I haven't heard anything directly. Until I do all I can say is that I'm looking forward to pre-season training at Millwall."

Given, meanwhile, skipped training yesterday as the Newcastle goalkeeper sought to shake off a calf strain picked up in Sunday's session.

But Kerr described the problem as "minor" and maintained that the Donegalman should be fine by the weekend, although it is not yet clear whether he will be risked in tomorrow afternoon's practice game.

Glen Crowe and Stephen McPhail are the other squad members carrying knocks, with the Bohemians striker due to have a scan today on a knee injury picked up in Friday night's defeat by St Patrick's Athletic and the Leeds midfielder possibly needing a brief rest after suffering a dead leg in yesterday's training session.

"Glen needs to train soon if he's going to be in contention for either of the games," said Kerr, "but Stephen should be okay - you expect a few knocks and bumps when you're training the way we are at the moment."

Both, though, look certain to be rather peripheral figures during the coming games. Kerr may have been unwilling to name his team or spell out his tactics yesterday, but he was clear enough that the personnel and approach will be "nothing drastically different" from what has gone before.

"It won't be too far away from what we've done already," said Kerr. "You don't want to start changing everything around at this stage of the campaign, and all I've said that I'd like to see is a bit more flexibility within the games."

He conceded that regardless of how the games against Albania and Georgia go, it is the Swiss who will have consolidated their grip on things at the top of the table if they can win their two home matches over the next nine days.

"But there's nothing we can do about that. They've won two and drawn two, so if they ended up with 14 points with a home game against us still to come then that would be a very strong position.

"What you have to say, though, is that if they do that then the Russians will be starting to struggle a little and that might mean an opportunity for us.

"Whatever way it all goes, we have to perform in our two games, and that's what we've got to stay focused on."