Trap: St Ledger has what it takes

Sean St Ledger’s previous performances for his country have convinced Republic of Ireland manager Giovanni Trapattoni that the Preston defender is ready to make the step up to International football.

Trapattoni said: "St Ledger against Nigeria and Bulgaria showed us that he plays with confidence and he is fast. He has the class to play football and we need him to grow as Paul McShane is injured.

"It's not my habit to change two, three, four or five players in a very important game, you don't find a team then because maybe some players won't find it easy."

On long-term absentee Stephen Reid, Trapattoni was hoping for his return soon even though he isn't set to play for Blackburn yet.

"He is in training. We hope he can play the next game (for Ireland), but we heard on saturday that he couldn't play. Maybe he will play in the future but at the moment he is not playing for his club.”

The manager did emphasise that Reid must be 100% to make it back into his plans.