Pat Fenlon is set to complete the signing of former Republic of Ireland international Curtis Fleming today, with the 36-year-old having agreed the broad terms of a four-month deal with the Shelbourne manager over the phone last night.

The arrival of the long-time Middlesbrough player, who made 10 appearances for the Republic of Ireland, will further strengthen Fenlon's options in defence and is likely to provide the veteran with an unexpected opportunity to play European football at this late stage in his career.

In the event that the Dubliners capitalise on last week's win over Glentoran in Belfast and progress to the next round of the Champions League qualifiers, where Steaua Bucharest await, Fleming would be eligible to play.

The former St Patrick's Athletic player, who has also had spells at Swindon, Birmingham City and Crystal Palace over the course of his career, was at Darlington last year and had been waiting on word of whether he was to be offered a new contract there.

In the meantime, however, there was interest from a number of Irish clubs and it had seemed he would end up back at Richmond Park before Fenlon stepped in to secure his signature.

The Shelbourne boss said yesterday Fenlon would be at the club until the end of the season by which time, at the age of 37, he would be free to take up an offer from England. He is expected to arrive in Dublin today to complete the formalities of the move.

Left back David Crawley, who limped out of the 2-1 win at the Oval, will be available for this week's return leg as the injury he sustained is a good deal less serious than had been feared.

Fenlon, meanwhile, has expressed bafflement at the way changes to the rules of the game introduced recently by Fifa have been implemented by referees in the different competitions in which Shelbourne have competed over the last few weeks.

"It's madness really," he said. "I had the referee last week in Belfast going through the changes with me an hour before kick-off. Some of the players were asking me then what the new rules are," he laughed, "but in the end, I just told them that as they had never known what the old ones were they should just get out there and play."

Yesterday Uefa contacted European football associations to say that Fifa's alterations to the offside rule are to be disregarded by referees.

That will come as a relief to Fenlon, who said of the changes: "You're not supposed to be offside until you touch the ball but I don't think I've seen a single referee here wait until then to stop the game."

But with Fifa having also altered the rules in relation to tackling and throw-ins, Fenlon insisted there was considerable confusion as to what is and is not being implemented by referees domestically and in Europe.

The regulations regarding tackling have been tightened up again and the Shelbourne boss admitted the increasingly protective attitude to the player in possession may not have suited his own style of play.

"They're saying now you can't tackle from the side as well as behind. It's helped to make the game quicker but I think it's fair to say I probably would have served a few more suspensions."

Damien Richardson continued his search for a goalkeeper yesterday ahead of his side's Uefa Cup second leg against Ekranas.

He said last night that while there had been some progress it would be at least this afternoon before anyone was signed.