SOCCER: Emmet Malone talks to the Bohemians goalkeeper about his long journey back into the spotlight.

For a moment at least it's hard to square Matt Gregg's youthful appearance with the sense that a long time has passed for the 24-year-old goalkeeper from Cheltenham since the Big Time seemed to be knocking hard on his door.

Still in his teens and playing for Torquay United, where Don O'Riordan had done much to bring him on, Gregg's chance came early when he did especially well in a League Cup game against Crystal Palace.

The first division outfit had briefly found wealth in the form of a young man, Simon Jordan, who had enriched himself through computers and had embarked on a process of impoverishing himself again through football. Jordan's first step was to hire Terry Venables as manager, and when the former England boss saw Gregg in action for the first time in late 1999 he immediately reached for his employer's cheque book.

Palace paid £400,000 for the young goalkeeper and for a while everything went well. After Venables departed, though, and Alan Smith made it obvious that he had other plans for the number one jersey, the romance of life at Selhurst Park began to wear off for a man who only a few months earlier might have been forgiven for seeing the place as a stepping stone on to considerably bigger things.

At just that time Gregg's Irish girlfriend was keen to return home to Dublin and the young goalkeeper decided that perhaps the major change of scenery might be for the best. In October 2001, he signed for Bray, where he played for two seasons while also performing well in his other sport, on the cricket pitch for Phoenix ("My best innings was 197," he says proudly).

Two seasons on and Bohemians offered him the chance of full-time football again, but even then he was going to have to leapfrog Shay Kelly in the pecking order if he was to nail down a first team place and earn his first crack at European football. A couple of weeks ago, against Cork City, he took the first step when he started his first league game for the club, and as he relaxed in the warm and welcoming city of Minsk yesterday afternoon he could afford to be quietly confident that he would retain his place and make his European debut in this evening's game against BATE Borisov.

"I knew Shay was a quality player from seeing him play at St Pat's, he has been one of the best in the league for the past few years and I knew it would be hard to get in," he says. "But while some people may have thought differently, I didn't join Bohs to sit on the bench. From the start, I was aiming to get into the team and, thankfully, that has now happened.

"I knew if I was patient that I would get a chance at some stage," he adds. "It has come perhaps a little quicker than I expected, but I am just glad that I have been able to take advantage. But it's come at the right time because I am really looking forward to the prospect of playing in the Champions League. It is the top competition in Europe and to be involved in it is very exciting."

On the face of it the move from England marked a step back in his career, but Gregg, an affable character who has settled well in Ireland, is positive about the experience.

"I was and still am grateful to Bray for giving me the chance to come to Ireland and I wouldn't have a bad word to say about the people there or my time at the club," he says. "But it was a bit of a culture shock for me to become a part-time footballer, because I had never experienced it before and it really wasn't ideal. My standards dropped, which is only natural because I was not training as often as I had at any of previous clubs and - when Bray were relegated - I knew I didn't want to play in the first division.

"But then if I had stayed in England," he says, "I was never going to play in any European competition at the level I was at, but now I have got that chance with Bohs and I am determined to enjoy it."

The team can, he feels, get the better of what he expects to be an exciting contest.

"Stephen (Kenny) has watched them and was pretty impressed. They are an attacking side, but that will suit us because we like to get forward so it should be an open game. It would be a major disappointment to everyone, though, if we were to go out in the first round. We want to do well in this competition, to go as far as we can."

Much will depend on how he performs this evening, and Kenny is clearly optimistic about the contribution he is capable of making.

"To be honest, Shay probably didn't do enough to get dropped," he says. "But Matt's form has been fantastic, even before Cyprus where he looked particularly good for us. When you look at him you can see the difference playing full-time can make, he's completely come into his own.

"This will give him a really big chance to show people what all the fuss was about a few years ago and the way he's playing at the moment I'm sure he'll do it."