McAuley can't wait for Slovakia clash

IPSWICH Town and Northern Ireland defender Gareth McAuley says tonight's World Cup qualifier against Slovakia at Windsor Park is the most important of his career so far.

IPSWICH Town and Northern Ireland defender Gareth McAuley says tonight's World Cup qualifier against Slovakia at Windsor Park is the most important of his career so far.

The 29-year-old was stripped of the Ipswich captaincy last month and dropped for two games.

However, he impressed in Ipswich's 1-1 draw with Preston on August 29 and then followed that up with a man-of-the-match performance at right-back for Northern Ireland last Saturday in their crucial 1-1 draw with Poland.

Nigel Worthington's side need to beat the table-topping Slovakians tonight if they are to stand any chance of making the World Cup in South Africa next summer.

McAuley said: 'This is the biggest game of my career. It's huge and there is no getting away from it. We've got to go and win. It's not one that we're nervous about, we can't wait for it.

'We don't want to have any regrets and we've got to play like it's our last game ever. We've got to go at them, close them down, press all over the pitch and try to get goals.

'The World Cup is within touching distance. We've two games left, two big games, the Slovakia game and the match in the Czech Republic next month.

'We've got to go that extra yard because the prize at the end of it is massive.'

Meanwhile, Ipswich midfielder Owen Garvan - who has not featured for Ipswich since their 2-0 defeat at West Brom - will captain the Republic of Ireland Under-21s for the first time tonight in their European Championships qualifier in Estonia.

Tamas Priskin's Hungarians face Portugal in Budapest, while Carlos Edwards's Trinidad and Tobago are up against the USA in the Port of Spain.