McGrath feels Dag can put Canaries to flight

DELIA SMITH retreated from the culinary limelight this week to concentrate on making her beloved Norwich big news again. .

By this evening, they just might be. It promises to be a nervous afternoon at Carrow Road, as the Canaries take a break from their promotion challenge.

Dagenham & Redbridge arrive with a giant-killing pedigree and a belief they have another upset in them. After accounting for Plymouth under the glare of Sky, they aren’t too concerned about the rise in quality of opponents.

“We are going in with the same attitude we took into the Plymouth game,” says Limerick-born midfielder John McGrath. “We aren’t fooling ourselves, it will be a much tougher proposition.

"wBut, if I was a betting man, I’d put some money on us going there and getting some sort of result. Even a draw would be some result.”

Those of us who regularly employ the phrase ‘good for Irish football’ of a lazy Saturday afternoon will recognise McGrath’s name.

Only a couple of years ago, he was coming off the Villa Park bench, replacing David Ginola in the Premiership which, of course, was good for Irish football.

However, before being rescued by Dagenham, McGrath had taken a wrong turn into the netherland that promising youth footballers often find themselves in.

His temporary demise has much to do with John Gregory’s strained relationship with Doug Ellis.

When Gregory lost patience with the deadly chairman and bolted from the barn door, McGrath was recovering from an ankle injury.

By the time he regained full fitness, Graham Taylor had different ideas about the make-up of Villa midfield. The slide down the pecking order began.

“I hadn’t been getting on well at Villa since Taylor took over, hadn’t featured in the team. But now, here I am, in the fourth round of the Cup while Villa are out,” says the 22-year-old, left-sided midfielder.

A sit down with Taylor before Christmas confirmed his worst suspicions. He hadn’t been factored into the plans of the ex-England boss. “Football is a strange business,”

McGrath observes. “When Gregory was here, he saw potential in me as a player, and I was getting into the squad. I suppose it is all a matter of opinion. One manager likes you as a player, the other doesn’t.

“It was obvious from what he was saying, that I wasn’t in his plans in the immediate future. I saw the kind of midfielders he was buying, experienced players like Kinsella and De La Cruz, so I needed a loan spell, needed first team football. Gary Hill was making enquiries at Villa Park, I spoke to him and decided to come down to Dagenham initially for a month, but I have got the loan spell extended until the end of the season.

“Too long out of first team football will be detrimental to any footballer’s career, from a stamina perspective as much as anything else. I am 22 years of age now, so I need first team football just to keep my career on track.

"And I am willing to take a couple of steps down to get back up.” When he arrived in the early days of December, he was thrown directly into the fire.

Caught in a swamped midfield, he and his new team-mates were three goals down against Halifax by half-time. They stirred themselves into an almighty fight-back in the second half to escape with a draw, but it was the quality of football that impressed McGrath most.

“There are some very good players in the conference. I have played against Andy Sinton and David Holdsworth (Dean’s brother) in the past few weeks. And even with

Dagenham, there are some great seasoned pros here who have offering me advice,” the Limerick native said.

Pros like former QPR and Welsh international keeper Tony Roberts, former West Ham stalwart Steve Potts and even Mark Stien, one-time scoring machine at Luton, are amongst those offering advice.

“There is a lot of quality in our team, certainly enough to surprise Norwich,” McGrath says, not neglecting to mention the wonderfully-named Junior McDougald, who, while he sounds like a pioneer of

Jamaican dub music, tormented the Plymouth defence in the last round.

Should they manage another draw against nation-wide opposition, there is the possibility of McGrath putting himself in the shop window again.

“To be honest, that was an opportunity that I didn’t think would come my way playing for Dagenham. Playing in front of the Sky cameras, you are in the shop window.

" team like that rarely gets into the spotlight, so some of the players would be thinking beforehand, this might be their chance. We had Martin Tyler at a training session, so it was something we were conscious of. But once the game began, it was down to business.”

From hurling-mad territory, 30 miles outside Limerick city, McGrath is blessed with an impressive left foot, and has played in both left-sided positions in his fledging, if halted, Villa career. With Dagenham, he is secured in midfield. Despite their reputation as a cup team, promotion into the Nationwide First Division remains their

primary goal this season.

Last year, Dagenham finished level on points with Boston United. Though Boston had a superior goal difference, Dagenham felt they would get promoted after it was discovered Boston played two illegal players. The FA waited until this year to deduct points, leaving Dagenham bitter.

“The club would rather get promoted. They are certainly good enough. I think what happened last year hit them hard. They thought Boston would get the points deducted from last year’s total and everyone is still miffed as to why the FA waited until this year to punish them. But, the Cup has restored a lot of confidence and feelgood factor.”

A factor that will be enhanced if McGrath can inspire Dagenham to spoil Delia’s meals this evening.