Soccer:Shay Given may get the chance to play his way back into a first team place at Manchester City when the Eastlands club get their Europa League campaign underway against Red Bull Salzburg in Austria on Thursday.
The Republic of Ireland goalkeeper was ousted from his City’s starting line-up by England’s number one Joe Hart at the start of the season, but an inglorious blunder by the 24-year-old gifted Blackburn Rovers the lead at Eastlands at the weekend and could open a window of opportunity for Given.
Hart has accepted blame for the tangle with Kolo Toure that allowed Nikola Kalinic give Rovers the lead before Patrick Vieira rescued a point for City, but he also had a shaky 10-minute spell for his country in Switzerland last week and manager Roberto Mancini now has a decision to make.
"I got there and Kolo was about to head it. He heard me coming and left it," Hart told www.mcfc.co.uk. "It was me getting in the way. I hold my hands up. I am sorry for that.
"Defensively we feel as though we have made a decent start to the season," he said. "We have still conceded only one goal from open play and that was a pretty freaky one."
Should Given play, it is still unlikely he will be retained in the starting line-up for the game against Wigan on Sunday, but another unsteady performance from Hart in the coming weeks could see the Irishman reinstated.
With only one point from two games since the impressive win over Liverpool last month, City need to shake themselves from their slumbers pretty quickly.
Mancini is also expected to have Nigel de Jong and Gareth Barry back in his midfield on Thursday, when Wayne Bridge could also make his comeback from a broken foot.