By the time he got back it was well after midnight. The journey home across the black Pennines, past Huddersfield, Leeds and York and then up into the northeast, had taken over three hours.

It had been subdued on the coach, as he expected. His side had lost. Worse, it was 3-0. Man United away it was, in front of a handful of people at Gigg Lane, Bury. He stared out the window until the Tyne Bridge loomed into view. Then he went home and stared some more, this time at the ceiling.

Later that same morning - yesterday morning - Shay Given was back at work at the Newcastle United training complex attached to County Durham's white plastic cricket ground. Stretching, diving, kicking. Stretching, diving, kicking. Going through the motions.

Today he knows he will be watching Steve Harper keep goal for Newcastle, instead of him, against the club where Given made a name, Sunderland. He knows the atmosphere will be the opposite of Gigg Lane - raucous and hostile, 42,000 screeching voices.

But he knows he will be detached from it. These days Given plays in front of hundreds rather than thousands, in venues where the ball can be heard scraping the net. It is life in the stiffs.

That is the unflattering name for reserve team football. It whiffs of failure and decay. The name conveys paralysis, and yet for the young trainee or apprentice the reserves is a land of opportunity, it's their California.

For the established pro, though, it is a wasteland, a staging post on the way to retirement. At 23, that means Shay Given has a problem.

It is a young age for a goalkeeper, but then Given has always been young. At Celtic, at Blackburn Rovers, on loan at Swindon Town and Sunderland, with Ireland and then the £1.5 million move to Newcastle - all by the time he was 21.

Keepers are said to peak in their early thirties: see Tim Flowers. Given can feel himself going stale by his mid-twenties.

By nature he could not be described as morose, but the word frustration peppers his conversation. He needs a change, of luck, or, more likely, of football club. Two appearances for the Newcastle first team since last April is not enough for a man who wants to play for his country.

And that is the overriding factor in Given's thoughts. The Republic of Ireland play hosts to the Czech Republic in just over a fortnight and Given wants to play, badly. His last international was against Northern Ireland nine months ago.

But he knows that Alan Kelly will start against the Czechs, just as he knows Harper will start against Sunderland this afternoon. Last Monday night he watched them both from the dugout at Ewood Park. Two friendly roadblocks stalling the path of Given's once prosperous career.

"To be honest, it was a bit difficult," Given said of Monday evening's FA Cup tie and his non-role in it. "To be honest" is a phrase he used a few times during the interview, and his frankness is all the more admirable considering his shrinking circumstances. It would be easy to hide.

"Alan is challenging me in the Irish squad and he played well. There is not much you can do sitting on the bench. Steve at the other end. It can get you down, especially on the journey back. Obviously it's great to get the result, but you think over the game and wish you had been playing yourself. The lads are all buzzing, but you haven't contributed anything." It's 19 games since Given injured his wrist against Derby County in October. November, December and January in the shadows, anxiety building. A few weeks ago it prompted Given to seek out Bobby Robson, Newcastle's manager. Given asked to go on loan to another club. Rules forbid loan deals between Premiership clubs so Given would have dropped one division at least.

"I've spoken to Bobby Robson on a couple of occasions," Given said, "about maybe even going on loan to get games. Going out on loan is no climbdown, I need to be playing first team. "But he said he wouldn't let me go out on loan because he needs cover for Steve. He said it would be unprofessional, and if you look at it from his point of view then . . . But I told him about the February game (against the Czechs). He told me to hang in there, that I'm doing well in training and that I'll get my chance. I'm still hanging in there."

Given laughed as he said that last bit, but there is a serious undertone to his natural nonchalance. His career is on pause and he needs the play button to be pressed. He is fully aware that his only realistic route back is via a Harper illness or fumble. He wishes neither on his close friend but knew that when Harper rushed rashly from his line against Blackburn and conceded a goal that Given's reputation increased. Similarly, when Harper made a sprawling save in the second half, Given was diminished. He is candid about his feelings.

"In a way, if Steve makes a couple of mistakes you might get back in the team. Maybe you shouldn't say that, because if he makes mistakes then it affects the whole team. You want the team to do well, but you want to get back into it.

"Probably the only way you are going to get back in is if he does have a few bad games. But you wouldn't wish that on him. A goalkeeper makes a mistake and it's a goal. Though when he made the save from Matt Jansen, I wouldn't say I was punching the air."

There is no bitterness, but no wonder goalkeepers are said to be different. One jersey. One place. One big heap of pressure if you are not the one. Presumably this is when the money helps.

Today Dean Kiely at Charlton arguably joins Kelly ahead of Given in Irish terms, though Robson has said that he will make sure that Mick McCarthy gets a good report on Newcastle's reserve team goalkeeper. McCarthy is aware of Given's present dissatisfaction anyway, having spoken to him on Wednesday.

But there is nothing McCarthy, Robson or Given can do until either Steve Harper or Alan Kelly give them the opportunity. Given said that Robson's achievement in his short time at Newcastle is to have restored confidence to the team and club. A Tyne-Wear derby offers the chance to display that.

Yet for Shay Given, the only man in the two squads to have played for both Sunderland and Newcastle, there is dwindling confidence and there will be no display. It's a stiff situation.