STEVE Coppell has told fit-again striker Kevin Doyle: "You owe us."

Doyle has recovered from the knee injury that has plagued him for the past two months to give the Royals a massive boost ahead of their play-off clash against Burnley.

The club's leading scorer has hit 18 goals this season - but has scored just twice in his last 17 appearances for Reading.

And Coppell attributes the 25-year-old's significant dip in form to his international exploits with the Republic of Ireland.

"This is the conflict with international football," Coppell told The Chronicle. "I know how much playing for your country means to players, especially for the Irish boys here at Reading.

"Ireland had some important games and he wanted to play even though he wasn't fully fit. I couldn't stop him but it meant he came back to us worse off and we have suffered because of it.

"Saying that, he has got to play for his country. I would never tell anyone not to because it is an honour.

"But after all that has happened, we do feel that we are owed. It is time for him and all the senior players to deliver."

Doyle could now make the starting line-up for the first leg away at Burnley this Saturday as Dave Kitson has a slight knock.

And Doyle branded himself "stupid" for playing through the pain barrier and now admits a brief rest when the injury first arose would have cured the problem.

"My knee feels so much better now than it has for the last 10 weeks or so," he said. "It started a few weeks before I last joined up with Ireland towards the end of March and it's been at me ever since.

"If I had stopped playing then it probably would have been right in no time. But I would have missed Ireland's games against Italy and Bulgaria which were big World Cup qualifiers, as well as some big ones with Reading.

"But I kept taking painkillers and anti-inflammatories and made it worse. That's why it's taken longer to clear up than it should have."

And he admitted: "It wasn't anyone's fault but mine. I just didn't have a chance to rest it. Looking back now I was stupid. Had I missed one or two games at the time I would have been fine.

"No-one knows I've been playing with a sore knee either so I haven't been doing myself justice. It was stupid of me. At 25 I really should know better and hopefully next time I will."

Doyle came off the bench in Sunday's promotion decider with Birmingham City but could not inspire his team to victory.

The Royals lost 2-1 and now face Burnley in the play-off semi-finals.

"Credit to Birmingham who deserved to be promoted," said the former Cork City hitman. "There's no point in moaning or looking back on the season. We've just got to win our play-off games.

"It's our second chance to be promoted and we look forward to some big matches. We have three games to get back into the Premier League and it will be exciting.

"I don't really care who we play but we've got to enjoy the build-up. We're confident because we've beaten Burnley already this season so why can't we beat them again?"

In-form Shane Long should start and Kitson should be fit despite a slight knock, while Royals striker Leroy Lita is also back in training.

Dave Mooney and Simon Church, who was considered for the Birmingham game, are available after returning from loan spells with Norwich and Leyton Orient respectively.