What must it feel like to be Matt Holland? The looks you get and the questions people ask. There has been an amputation and you arrive as a band aid. They've commissioned War and Peace and you've produced a tidy novella. They've built an opera house and, well, you make easy listening.

What must it feel like to be the man who stands in for Roy Keane, to be mere flesh and blood as opposed to a monument. Holland the understudy has such an impressive CV that the shadow doesn't suit him. Never missed a game in his four years or so with Ipswich, club skipper, five goals from midfield this year and that wonderful strike in the Stadium of Light against Portugal and yet he is only associated with crises. Made his debut in the fatal last few minutes against Macedonia in Skopje in the last campaign. Otherwise he generally fills in when disaster strikes, materialises when the President of the Republic of Keano cannot be with us.

The Man Who Is Not Roy Keane bears it all with a grin and says all the right things about our absent leader. Yet he must wonder what he would have to do tonight here in Tallinn to claim a regular place in the side for himself.

"Hopefully I'll play," he says, "but it's a big blow for us to lose Roy. I'll just have to do my best."

He goes on to explain what a good season it has been at club level. Finishing fifth in the table was an astonishing return for a team that spent virtually no money and Holland's constant good form in the middle of the park has seen his cache rise significantly. But enough about Matt, we have more questions to ask about Roy. We'll miss him yes, but how much will we miss him.

"Of course we'll miss him. He's one of the best players in the world. I look at him in games and training and I think I can only learn from being around him. It's great to train with him."

What have you learned?

"What haven't I learned. Look at his energy, his passing, the number of goals he scores. What more could you ask for?"

Roy. Roy. Roy. That's what more we'd ask for.

"Obviously it's a blow to lose somebody of his ability but with three games left and three wins needed we just have to get on with things."

Finally Holland gets to utter a few sentences without having to pay homage. Since his season finished with Ipswich he had a couple of weeks holidays and then the week of training for the Portugal game. He feels good for a man who has played in over 200 consecutive club matches, a durability he puts down to "luck" and on one occasion a recommendation from George Burley that he bathe an injury in sea water.

"So what did you do?"

"Just paddled. It was freezing. It was October."

Phew, lucky it wasn't a shoulder injury then.

Tonight he is looking forward to a tough game and to resuming his sporadic relationship with Mark Kinsella. He must speak carefully lest he kick the shins of Banquo's Ghost.

"I think we have a good relationship in midfield. I understand Mark's game and we can dovetail it a bit, one going forward the other hanging back."

For all the mourning for Roy Keane, for every insinuation that when Batman is injured Robin will just have to do, Holland has served well. His goal in the Stadium of Light was a superb strike and that ability to shoot well from outside the box will be an addition to a rather skimpy armoury this evening

"That goal against Portugal, I suppose it's the high point of my career along with winning the play-off final with Ipswich (which saw them win promotion to the Premiership last year). Another goal would be nice. It will be close and we know this is a tough group and if we get nine points out of these three games we give ourselves a chance. What matters for all the team is this game. We know after what Estonia did to Holland at the weekend that this will be a tough game."

He is just finished and with the politeness which is his mark he looks around slowly to see if there are any more questions before he rises to leave. Just one.

"Matt. Did Roy give any message before he went?"

He's entitled to a tantrum at this point. He just says "Not really. Go and win it, I suppose."

Perhaps today will be the day when we begin appreciating Matt Holland for his own quiet excellence.