McGrath to keep playing

PAUL MCGRATH is prepared for the bitter-sweet prospect of ending his Aston Villa career with a Wembley cup double - and then walking away to sign for the highest bidder.

McGrath, 36, insists he'll carry on as a player even if Villa show him the door at the end of the season. So far, manager Brian Little has offered no sign of a new deal for McGrath to replace the contract that expires this summer.

But the former Manchester United defender, still a world-class performer on the evidence of Wednesday night's 1-0 FA Cup quarter-final win at Nottingham Forest, says: "I'll play on next season somewhere else if Villa don't want me.

"I'm going to sit down with Brian Little when the season is over and I still hope something twill be sorted out for me to stay. But if it doesn't happen I'll look for a new club. I'm prepared to drop down the ladder a bit and I'm happy to play for anybody who picks me. That certainly includes Mick McCarthy, who has named me in his first Ireland squad for the match against Russia later this month."

McGrath, the Republic's most-capped international with 80 appearances to his name, adds: "I'd love to play against Russia. It's in the same week as our cup matches, between the League Cup final against Leeds and the FA Cup semi-final the following Sunday, but you can tell anybody I'm confident in my fitness to play in all those three big games.

"I still have that desire to play in matches like that the type every player dreams about when he comes into the game.

"There have been no developments about a new contract for me but I'll just keep playing until they want me to stop. And if I could go out with two Wembley finals that would be a great way to do it."

McGrath's cup-double dream is even closer to reality after the win at Forest - clinched by a storybook comeback by Franz Carr, who started his first Villa game since rejoining manager Little from Leicester 14 months ago and grabbed a glorious winner against the club he left in 1991.

Carr's continuing comeback at the top may still hinge - like McGrath's place - on Villa's injury list, though. Little is hoping to have Gareth Southgate back from an ankle knock at Sheffield Wednesday tomorrow, alongside skipper Andy Townsend, now clear of suspension.

Ugo Ehiogu and Savo Milosevic are both due to serve bans before the League Cup final, however, and Tommy Johnson admits he is only making steady progress with a thigh injury that has already kept him out for nearly a month.

McGrath, who has played in 34 games this season -just as many as at the same stage last term and a remarkable number for a man whose battle-scarred knees are rarely risked in full training - insists: "There's no problem with my fitness. I guess I'm just lucky but I enjoyed the match against Forest as much as most I've played over the years.

"It wasn't quite the biggest bombardment I've ever faced, but they certainly tested our stamina in the second half when they threw everything forward looking for the equaliser."

To the anguish of Forest, especially keeper Mark Crossley, who steered his team into the quarter-final with breathtaking penalty shoot-out saves at Tottenham just four days earlier, that equaliser did not come. And Crossley suffered the extra blow of being beaten by close-friend Carr's 20-yards strike.