IT IS a full five years since the FA Cup provided Mark Wright with his proudest and most embarrassing moment in the same afternoon. He is not alone in remembering it as if it was yesterday.

Liverpool had just beaten Sunderland to secure the captain what is still his only honour in 17 years as a professional. He walked the 39 steps, lifted the famous old trophy skywards - and let out the sort of thundering expletive normally reserved for the Boot Room.

The moment is still replayed every time the BBC runs through that gallery of Cup winning captains.

"As I was handed the Cup it was almost as if I was by myself," he said. "There were 100,000 people inside Wembley and incalculable millions watching on television yet I almost felt alone.

"As I turned to our supporters, I just gave vent to my feelings. I didn't even think about it; it was just pure emotion. The moment meant so much to me. I had worked really hard all my career and that was my reward."

Although he has since lost the captaincy, he remains central to Liverpool's chances of securing another trophy this season. Tomorrow at Stamford Bridge Wright and his teammates step back on to the FA Cup trail in a fourth-round tie of obvious potential.

"It's not exactly the one we would have picked but, maybe, Chelsea are not too happy about it either," he said as Liverpool finalised their preparations last week.

By his own admission and to his obvious amusement Wright is now a "certain age". Last weekend as he cantered out to take his place at the heart of the Liverpool defence against Aston Villa the realisation quickly dawned that, at 33, he was eight years older than his most immediate junior, Stig Inge Bjornebye.

And to make matters worse it was pointed out that he was just about old enough to have fathered Liverpool's 18-year-old debutant midfielder Jamie Carragher.

"John Barnes, who was just a few weeks younger than me, was missing last Saturday so it was me and the kids. I felt like the elder statesman," he said. "Getting older is one of those weird things: it just creeps up on you until one day you look around and find a sea of youthful faces. You don't actually feel old - or older - until someone points it out to you. Still, never mind, I'm young at heart."

So much so that he is still lining up objectives and selecting targets with the youthful exuberance of a Carragher. Wright has represented England 45 times at senior level, a suspiciously low return considering that he made his debut in 1984, against Wales.

Although many believe that he should already have garnered 100 caps, Wright will be content to end his playing career with half that number and his immediate target is selection in next week's squad for the World Cup qualifier against Italy.

"I don't think I have achieved quite what I should have done for England," he admits. "The desire still burns inside me because I do want to reach the 50 mark. But, as time slips away from me, that is going to get more and more difficult."

Many believed that he would have achieved that goal last summer in Euro `96. But, as football came home, Wright was at home - injured - as he had been during the 1986 World Cup finals in Mexico and the European Championship in Sweden in 1992.

"Terry Venables told me I would have a big part to play last summer but it was not to be. I have had to fight my way back from a lot of things.

"Of course, I still want to play for my country but I am getting on a bit. I know Glenn Hoddle well - I should do, we played in the same England side. I have been around a long time. I also played alongside the likes of Tony Woodcock, Paul Mariner and Alan Kennedy."

Although Wright's sense of contentment at Liverpool is apparent, the relationship has not always been so cosy. In the summer of 1993 he had a well publicised bust-up with the manager Roy Evans who accused him of having an "attitude problem".

Wright's name, and that of Julian Dicks, was struck off the list of those heading for the pre-season tour of Germany and Norway.

"We'd been beaten 4-1 by Bolton Wanderers in a friendly and I didn't react to that the way the manager wanted. My future may have looked bleak at that point but I came here to prove myself a real player to the Liverpool supporters.

"I wasn't going to walk out or seek to leave. I knuckled down because I wanted to prove to people I could do it here. I just love proving people wrong, that's a big part of me, the inbred desire to bounce back."

Although he regards himself as "half old-fashioned stopper, half ball-playing centre-half Evans now regards him as one of the most accomplished central defenders in the game. "I don't know if there are more of these ball players around these days," said Wright. "I think, maybe, there are just more managers who would like to have them.

"You only have to look at Arsenal at the moment. Under Arsene Wenger, Tony Adams and those around him are bombing forwards trying to play football and that, surely, must be the way forward for English football."

He believes his own future lies in management. "I'd like to think I could do it but I don't want all that responsibility just yet," he said.

"I'm a player right now and I would love to extend my career at Liverpool when my present contract expires in 18 months' time. I want to win more things." Although if he does, this time he promises to keep his feelings to himself.