Carroll with designs on number one spot

Roy Carroll is determined to become number one for club and country – although for now remains resigned to life on the bench.

The Manchester United goalkeeper was handed an opportunity to prove himself last night by Northern Ireland manager Lawrie Sanchez, and again did not let anybody down.

Carroll kept a clean sheet in a goalless draw against Switzerland in Zurich as Ireland maintained their best run since 1986 by stretching their unbeaten record to six matches.

“Of course you are disappointed and unhappy if you are not even on the bench, but you are more disappointed when you are not playing,” said Carroll.

“You want to play and be number one, but sometimes it does not happen like that, so the first thing I have to do is try to get my spot back at Manchester United, then after that prove to Lawrie I’m good enough to play for my country as well.

“At least it was good to start a game again, to play the full 90 minutes and get another chance for Northern Ireland.”

Under Sanchez, the Irish have now kept three successive clean sheets, with Carroll playing the full 90 minutes against the Swiss and producing three fine saves.

It was one in the eye for Sir Alex Ferguson as the United boss dropped Carroll from the bench for Sunday’s Premiership-opening defeat at Chelsea, preferring Ricardo, after serving as deputy to Tim Howard for both the Community Shield clash against Arsenal and Champions League tie in Bucharest with Dinamo.

At United, Carroll boasts a remarkable record in his three seasons at Old Trafford. He has played 38 games, starting 34 times, yet only been on the losing side three times.

Carroll would certainly love to further improve that run, adding: “It’s a good record, a nice one to have.

“Hopefully I’ll get a few more matches this season with Manchester United, get a few more wins under my belt and keep the record going.”

Even then that might not be enough to dislodge Birmingham’s Maik Taylor from the number one spot with Northern Ireland, with Carroll fully expecting to be a substitute again when Sanchez names his starting line-up for the World Cup qualifying game against Poland next month.

“Maik and I are good friends,” added Carroll.

“He is still the number one because he has been playing first-team football for the last two years and I haven’t, so it’s up to me to try and get it back off him.

“But I’ve been in and out all the time, so it doesn’t matter what happened last night, if Maik doesn’t pick up any injuries then he will be playing against Poland.”

Sanchez concedes “nothing is set in stone” with regard the goalkeeping position, and that Carroll “put himself forward” with a display in Zurich in which he did nothing wrong.

But regardless of who is between the posts on September 4, Carroll believes the Irish have a chance of upsetting the odds in a group which includes England and Wales.

“Our confidence is growing under Lawrie, who has done really well since he came in,” said Carroll.

“We all respect him as a manager, which is what you need, and if we continue to defend as we have been doing and luck goes our way as it did against Switzerland, then you never know what could happen.

“You only have to look at Greece winning Euro 2004, so you have to have belief. There’s no point being a footballer if you don’t think you are going to win things. You have to think you are going to win and if you believe then it might happen.

“That first match, playing at home, it’s a big game for us. We know if we do well it could be a platform. We have to start well and hopefully we’ll get the three points.”